Explore "Wanderings in New South Wales, Batavia, Pedir Coast, Singapore, and China, Volume 1" by George Bennett on Textopian.
Wooded hills-Base of the Bugong mountains-Multitudes of the Bugong moths-Timber trees and granite rocks-Snow mountains-Method of collecting the moths-Use of these insects-Crows-Height of the Bugong mountains-The aborigines-Dread of ridicule in the females-Native fine arts-Lyre-bird of the colonists-Destruction of kangaroos and emus-The station of Been-Sanguinary skirmishes-A fertile plain-Cattle paths-Shrubs on the banks of the Tumat.
Near this station is a lofty table-mountain, rising above numerous wooded hills, varying in their degrees of elevation, as seen in the accompanying engraving: it forms the commencement of a mountainous range, extending in a south-west direction. It is named the "Bugong Mountain," from the circumstance of multitudes of small moths, called Bugong by the aborigines, congregating at certain months of the year about masses of granite on this and other parts of the range. The months of November, December, and January, are quite a season of festivity among the native blacks, who assemble from far and near to collect the Bugong; the bodies of these insects, contain a quantity of oil, and they are sought after as a luscious and fattening food. I felt very desirous of investigating the places where these insects were said to congregate in such incredible quantities, and availed myself of the earliest opportunity to do so.