BY RICHD. HELMS. 39-9 



The303elieved that an enemy could secretly throw a "gibba" 

 (stone) which would enter the body of the person it was to hurt 

 and cause pain in the place it had entered."^ 



If therefore anyone felt a pain in the l)ody or any of his limbs 

 the " Karaji " (doctor or wizard) of the tribe would bite or suck 

 the place and generally produce a stone after a few minutes 

 which he professed to have removed from the sore part. Some- 

 times they even managed to show blood on the stone. As a rule, 

 the jDatient would soon recover after this display of crafty fraud. 



These " Karaji," besides possessing these curative powers, were 

 supposed to l^e able to work all sorts of miracles and charms, but 

 generally each of them was noted for some special power. Some, 

 for instance, were expert in making rain. For this purpose eagle- 

 hawk feathers were rubbed between the palms of the hands in 

 connection with various manoeuvres and gesticulations, invented 

 and differently performed by each individual conjurer. Every one 

 tried to inspire the onlookers with his special power and used his 

 own methods to deceive the credulous. 



The dead were buried in different ways: either in a hollow tree, 

 if the corpse could be dropped down from the top, or in a sitting- 

 position in a hole dug in the ground, or a cavity was made at the 

 bottom of a deep hole where the corpse was pushed in and some 

 stone slabs placed against it before the hole was filled up. In 

 each case the body was tied up in some fibrous bark with the 

 knees drawn towards the abdomen and the limbs firmly lashed 

 together. Great wailing and lamenting preceded the burial for 

 several days; the relations, and more particularly the women, 

 chopped and gashed their heads with stone tomahawks till 

 blood flowed freely. AVhen the body was disposed of, they 

 smeared pipeclay over their heads and faces as a sign of mourning. 

 This outward sign of sorrow was retanied for some time, but as a 

 rule much longer by the women than by the men. But as soon 

 as the flesh of an enemy was eaten, even if this were on the day 



* This superstition is evidently the same as 1 he "pointing of a bone, 

 believed iii by most of the Australian indigenes, in another form. 



