BY JOHN MACPHERSON. 



639 



said, the drug rapidly pervaded the system and soon effected a 

 cure. 



Suction was one of the most universal of practices amongst the 

 Australian Medicine Men. Dr. Clutterbuck"^ refers to a similar 

 custom among the Victorian natives. I was surprised to observe 

 the evident faith in which, even at the present time, this manner of 

 treatment is held by the civilised aborigines. Of course, in some 

 cases, it would be a simple method of dry-cupping and would 

 have the same applications. Again, it is the most rational manner 

 of treating the stings and bites of venomous animals. Otherwise 

 it was purely " make-believe" charlatanism, or part of dexterous 

 sleight-of-hand performances by the astute physician. In the 

 first category we might include sucking the integument over the 

 affected parts in various pains or headaches, " colds " (nasal 

 catarrh), &c. ( Yukumbul). An old Yugilbar native, whose grand- 

 child had an attack of acuie bronchitis with cough and dyspnoea, 

 sucked the infant's mouth and nose, after the fashion of the 

 doctors of his tribe, as an emergency measure before seeking my 

 professional advice. If a person felt sore (boo-boo) anywhere, the 

 doctor inserted a cigar-shaped needle into the tender place. This 

 manoeuvre, I was assured, was almost painless. Through the 

 needle the wily sorcerer affected to extract by sucking the 

 materies morbi (in the shape of a pebble or similar object pre- 

 viously adroitly concealed in his mouth). This he spat out, to 

 the great satisfaction of the sufferer. In the Yukumbul tribe, 

 similarly, splinters or barbs of spears were supposed to be removed 

 by sucking. An Inverell native assured me that if a spear-head 

 penetrated the flesh and broke off, native doctors (but not Euro- 

 pean surgeons) could, by these means, extract the buried fragment. 

 Of course a piece of spear-head was, beforehand, deftly hidden 

 about the performer's person to be produced at an opportune 

 moment. 



Their materia medica comprised herbs, plentiful in the Clarence 

 River scrubs, but scarce in the Glen Innes neighbourhood. 



' Port Phillip in 1849,' p. 54. 



