546 Kt^DITCIIA SHOES OF CENTRAL AUSTRALIA, 



It is of course difficult to adjudicate between the rival state- 

 ments of Messrs. Curr and French — whether the slippers are used 

 in blood revenge, or rain-making. We now know only too well 

 the superstitions entertained by the Aborigines over the whole 

 Continent regarding the cause of death, and the action almost 

 universally taken to a"\'enge that of a near relative or connection. 

 We are likewise acquainted with many and varied extraordinary 

 proceedings adopted, in their belief, to produce rain. So far as I 

 am aware, however, the use of shoes in either of these directions 

 has not been recorded, with the exception of the two quotations 

 already given. Under these circumstances, I felt I could not do 

 better than consult my ever obliging friend, Mr. A. W. Howitt, 

 whose knowledge of the habits of many of the Central Australian 

 Tribes is second to none. Mr. Howitt, who possesses a pair of 

 these shoes from Charlotte Waters, wrote me as follows : — " It is 

 said they are used by the ' Doctors ' when seeking out the evil 

 being who has swallowed the rain, and thus caused droughts. I 

 never knew of them in the Cooper's Creek Tribes, and I doubt 

 very much whether they were used in the Pinna, but the Yantro- 

 winta (Cooper's Creek i told me that when they went on their 

 expeditions to obtain Pitcheri they passed through country where 

 there were people whose tracks were the same before and behind. 

 I have also thought their statement referred to the tribe in which 

 the Kuditcha shoes were used by the ' Doctors.' The same custom 

 probably extends north and south of Charlotte Waters, even down 

 to the Peake and up to the Finke River. From the latter place 

 I learn that the tribes and customs over the area referred to are 

 similar, if not the same." 



Mr. Howitt's supposition that the use of the Kilditcha shoes 

 extends to the north of Charlotte Waters is quite borne out by 

 the locality of the present slippers, Barrow Creek being a very 

 considerable distance to the north of that place. 



In a second and later communication Mr. Howitt tells me 

 "that the feather shoes are also said to be worn at Charlotte 

 Waters by men who mean to kill others, and that where such 



