BY R. ETHERIDOE, JUXR. 547 



tracks are seen about people are much alarmed, l:)ut do not follow 

 them, the wearers being tabooed." 



It would appear, therefore, from the information supplied by 

 Mr. Howitt, that the Rilditcha shoes are almost certainly used by 

 the rain-maker, and possibly also by the authorised agents in 

 attaining blood-revenge. At the same time, thinking it very 

 desirable that definite information should be obtained from the 

 most reliable local source, I communicated with Mr. J. J. East, 

 Registi-ar of the School of Mines, ikc, Adelaide, and who possesses 

 the advantage of several years' experience in Central Australia. 



Mr. East has most obligingly sent me a very interesting cutting 

 from the Adelaide Evening Journal of Dec. 3rd, 1892, on the 

 " Curious Customs of the Natives of Central Australia," by R.O. 

 This he has supplemented with his personal experience and views. 



Mr. East informs me that "R.O." is an old bushman named 

 Richard Oldfield, and that Mr. Thomas Gill, the Under Treasurer 

 of S. Australia, well known for his Ethnological and Bibliographical 

 researches, has full faith in the authenticity of his statements. 



Mr. Oldfield's account of these shoes is as follows, when speaking 

 of inter-tribal wars : — " Should it happen that one of the tribes is 

 greatly superior in numbers to the other, the weaker tribe invites 

 one of the young warriors of the opposite tribe to hunt in their 

 country for a euro, or kangaroo, at the same time sending one of 

 their own trilje to hunt in the country of the stronger tribe. The 

 warrior of the weaker tribe crosses the boundary line into the 

 country of the stronger tribe, and after proceeding a mile or two 

 he doubles back, and finding the track of the other warrior, he 

 puts on a pair of large soft shoes made out of emu feathers, stuck 

 tog^ether with blood, gum, etc. As these shoes leave no track the 

 natives call them Kooditcha shoes (Kooditcha means devil). 

 With these appendages he follows the tracks of his adversary 

 with extreme care and caution, until his victim has killed a euro, 

 and when the unsuspecting man is Ijusily engaged in securing the 

 euro, the warrior with the Kooditcha shoes steals up silently and 

 spears him in a vital place. Having despatched his victim, he 

 immediately obtains a firestick, and while the body is still wai-m 



