644 NGARRABUL AND OTHER ABORIGINAL TRIBES, 



Fractures were not uncommon, the result of accident or 

 encountered in war, from the blow of the large and powerful war 

 boomerang {Burr-gun) — the kind which did not return to the 

 thrower. In the Yukumbul tribe the bark of a special tree, 

 Bugaibil,wsi^ used in setting fractures. Thus, for the forearm, two 

 sheets of bark were used, placed along the anterior and posterior 

 sides of the injured member; these were secured by tying. The 

 dusky surgeons said that the juice of the bark penetrated to the 

 seat of fracture and effected its healing. In the Bundela race, 

 when a limb was fractured, the old people gathered round and 

 bound it up with tea-tree bark to keep it warm and comfortable. 

 Around this was fastened string made from a scrub-tree like the 

 Black Kurrajong, Yap par, of the Inland Plains {Sterculia diver si- 

 folia, G. Don). Thus it was secured until union had taken place. 

 The bark of the Australian tea-trees or paper-bark trees 

 (Melaleuca, Gallistemon, and Leptosperinum) lends itself admirably 

 to extemporaneous use in setting broken bones — placed outside 

 in. The inner layers are sufficiently firm to secure imuiobility of 

 the fragments, while the soft exfoliating outer layers form an 

 excellent padding, as recommended by Dr. AVoodward in his 

 Railway Ambulance Handbook.* 



The bite of the centipede and spider, and sting of the scorpion, 

 were treated by vigorous sucking until the blood was withdrawn, 

 and with it the poison. The nip of the powerful soldier-ant was 

 not deemed important enough to require interference, whereas 

 the sting of the English bee {Boo) was considered highl}^ dangerous 

 and often fatal. The imported bee was very " saucy," and should 

 be robbed of its honey only by night (Bundela). 



Snakes of the most venomous kinds are common throughout 

 the whole district, but the natives rarely die from the effects of 

 their bites. A Yukumbul female told me that they were seldom 

 bitten, and that she had never heard of a fatality arising 

 from such a cause. It is said, however, that an aboriginal at 

 Oban succumbed to the venom of a tiger snake, Erkullah 



* Third Edition, p. 100. 



