a long rope an inch in thickness, made of the twisted stems of some
creeping plant, is made fast to the peg at one end, while the other is
secured to the canoe. When within distance, the bowman leaps out, strikes
the dugong, and returns to the canoe with the shaft in his hand. On being
struck, the animal dives, carrying out the line, but generally rises to
the surface and dies in a few minutes, not requiring a second wound, a
circumstance surprising in the case of a cetaceous animal, six or eight
feet in length, and of proportionate bulk. The carcass is towed on shore
and rolled up the beach, when preparations are made for a grand feast.
The flesh is cut through to the ribs in thin strips, each with its share
of skin and blubber, then the tail is removed and sliced with a sharp
shell as we would a round of beef. The blubber is esteemed the most
delicate part; but even the skin is eaten, although it requires much
cooking in the oven.

(*Footnote. A slender, branchless, cylindrical, articulated seaweed, of a
very pale green colour, was pointed out to me by a native as being the
favourite food of the dugong.)

COOKING IN THE OVEN.

This oven is of simple construction--a number of stones, the size of the
fist, are laid on the ground, and a fire is continued above them until
they are sufficiently hot, the meat is then laid upon the bottom layer
with some of the heated stones above it, a rim of tea-tree bark banked up
with sand or earth is put up all round, with a quantity of bark, leaves,
or grass on top, to retain the steam, and the process of baking goes on.
This is the favourite mode of cooking turtle and dugong throughout Torres
Strait, and on the east coast of the mainland I have seen similar
fireplaces as far south as Sandy Cape.