544 kUditcha shoes of central Australia, 



THE KUDITCHA SH0E8 OF CENTRAL AUSTRALIA. 



By R. Etheridge, Junr. 



(Acting Curator, Australian Museum, Arc.) 



It is now known that certain tribes of the Aborigines towards 

 the centre of the Continent manufacture a very beautiful shoe, 

 chiefly composed of emu feathers. Two entirely different uses 

 have been ascribed to these. On the one hand, the late Mr. E. 

 M. Curr stated* that the Blacks of the Musgrave Ranges wear 

 the shoes "when they attack their enemies by stealth at night." 

 On the other hand, Mr. C. French, Government Entomologist, 

 Melbourne, has more recently referred! them to a portion of the 

 stock-in-trade of the " rain-maker " of the MacDonnell Ranges. 



I am indebted to Mr. H. Y. L. Brown, Government Geologist 

 of South Australia, for a pair of these very interesting articles, 

 procured from Barrow Creek, near Central Mount Stuart, on the 

 Overland Telegraph Line. As I have never seen a detailed 

 description of these novel articles of native apparel, a few notes 

 on the subject will probably be of interest. 



The Musgrave Blacks, according to Curr, call the slippers 

 Kooditcha, and assume them with the view of preventing the 

 wearer from being tracked. " It is," says Curr, " only on the 

 softest ground that they leave any mark, and even then it is 

 impossible to distinguish the heel from the toe ; so that the Blacks 

 vsay they can track anything that walks, except a man shod with 

 Kooditcha." This word signifies an invisible spirit, hence the 

 adoption of the name to the shoes. 



The entirely different use asci'ibed to these articles by Mr. 

 French is expressed by him in the following words : — " It is 

 believed amongst the natives of certain tribes in Central Australia 



* The Australian Race, 1886, i. p. 148. 

 f Vic. Nat. 1892, ix. No. 6, p. 79. 



