396 ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTES, 



The crows fattened rapidly on the moths and were also highly 

 prized as food. They were consequently much pursued by the 

 nati% es during their bugonging pic-nics. 



The fine nets made of kurrajong fil^re mentioned above seem 

 to have been especially designed for the purpose of collecting the 

 " Bugong." They had very fine meshes and were manufactured 

 with great care, and being attached to a couple of poles they 

 could be readily folded up when they had to be withdrawn from 

 the crevices. A shrub, ( Pimella sp.) growing abundantly in 

 places by the river sides to a height of three to four feet, furnished 

 the fibre. The bark of this bush was stripped and allowed to dry, 

 was then placed in water, and weighted down with some stones 

 for several days till the non-fibrous portions were partly rotted. 

 It was then taken out of the water and spread in the sun to 

 dry till it was quite crisp, after which the fibre was freed by 

 beating with sticks or flat stones. All this was the women's work, 

 and they managed to produce a tenacious material from it 

 that could be spun into the finest threads.* 



They kindled fire by friction, and for this purpose procured two 

 pieces of the seed stalk of the grass tree ( Xanthorrlicea). One of 

 the pieces was flattened and laid on the ground, and the other, 

 pared to a point, was pressed against the flattened surface and 

 rapidly twirled between the flat hands. The friction soon 

 produced sufficient heat to cause some of the fine particles that 

 were loosened by the rotatory motion at the point of contact to 

 glow, which was, with the addition of some powdered charcoal 

 and dry pounded bark fibre, fanned into a flame. 



* Among the white people of Australia the name kurrajong is applied to 

 a tree ( Br achy chiton), but the natives in most parts give it a diii'erent name 

 and say that kurrajong is white fellow name. It seems to me that the tree 

 obtained its name through a misunderstanding because it yields a fibre that 

 is frequently used by aborigines for making nets. This fibre is called 

 kurrajong by some natives, which seems to have led to the name being 

 applied to the tree. On the other hand, as the Omeo blacks called their 

 bush as well as the fibre kurrajong, such may possibly be the case with 

 the Brachychiton tree in some tribal dialects. 



