NORTH (^UHICNSLAXI) ETIIX0(;RAP1IY — UoTII. 371 



(KMI, lin-ji-ihi), on the Middle Palmer Kivei' is about six inches 

 long, gradually enlarging towards its extremity, foi-med on a basis 

 of black cement substance encircled on its upper half with kan- 

 garoo twine, and studded over its lower with Ahrns precatorms 

 or sometimes Adenanthera ahrosperma berries. When the berries 

 are not obtainable, the kangaroo twine may l)e alone employed ; 

 it is of course only used by males. 



4. At Princess Charlotte Bay, although every effort is made 

 to prevent a fatal termination to sickness or accident within 

 the precincts of a camp, by remo^•ing the moribund patient to 

 a distance, there appears to be no compunction about biinging 

 the corpse back immediately after death, and temporarily burying 

 it well within the camping ground. The restrictions of the tabu 

 are applied to the actual spot where death takes place. The mourn- 

 ers, men and women, alternately sleep at and cry over the grave, 

 wear mourning belts (men) or chain strings (women) and cover 

 themselves with mud. The belts, similar to those at Cape Bedford, 

 are wound round the waists, and are made of a central core of 

 opossum-, or human-hair string, around which another twine is 

 tightlj' coiled.-" The chain-strings'-^' are worn either over one shoulder 

 across to, and under the opposite arm-pit, or else round the neck, 

 one individual thus wearing three different sets at the same time. 

 After some three or four days, when the friends and relatives who 

 liave been sent for are gathered round, the body is exhumed, and 

 packed up in a piece of bark the ends of which overlap like a 

 tongue, while the sides are sewn across in single boot-lace style. In 

 thisfashion the corpse is carried about frcmi campto campfor a long 

 period, many months maybe, indeed until such time as the deceased 

 tells his brotlier, uncle, etc., who it was that doomed or put him 

 to death. But should lie not choose to tell, his relatives will find 

 out for themselves by means of hair-twine made from hair removed 

 from the corpse. As this is being manufactured and rolled 

 and stretched along the thigh,''^''* the names of suspected persons 

 are called aloud ; the name at which it breaks is that of the person 

 who committed the i\Qi^<\. If the individual thus detected lives 

 in some other district, the hair-twine is mentled, forwarded to one 

 of the deceased's relatives in that neighbourhood who takes his. 

 i-e\'enge and sends it back when completed, in fact the return of 

 the twine shows that the alleged assailant has paid the forfeit 

 with his life. On occasion, especialh' in the case of women and 



ao Bull. 1 —Section ] 5. 

 ••21 Bull. 1.— Section VI. 

 -' Bull. 1.^ Section 2. 



