14 RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM 



be killed by the fathers with a blow from a stick, or allowed to 

 starve. 



25. In the North-Western Districts, on the east coast-line 

 (Cape Grafton) and elsewhere, abortion does not appear to be an 

 uncommon practice. It is performed by the fixation of a thick 

 cord wound very tightly round and round the abdominal walls, 

 combined with the punching by hand or stick upon the more 

 palpable and apparently firmer portions of the unborn child. In 

 many areas still-births are prevalent owing not only to the 

 women fighting amongst themselves, but also on account of the 

 way they are often knocked about by their husbands. 



26. Immediately after birth, in the Bouliaand Upper Georgina 

 Districts, baby is "washed" in ashes, mud, or sand, but usually 

 in the last-mentioned, the head and face being alike cleaned. 

 When the Kalkadun infant is taken out of the shallow excava- 

 tion into which it is allowed to tumble, any sand that may chance 

 to stick to its face and mouth is removed with leaves; otherwise 

 it is neither washed nor cleaned. Subsequently, however, the 

 baby is smeared from top to toe with "iguana"-fat which is 

 renovated continuously during its early years of life, while, at 

 intervals, some powdered ashes are rubbed on the head over the 

 areas of the fontanels. The Cape Bedford baby, after birth, is 

 rubbed clean with sand and then exposed to the sun ; indeed, to 

 be left exposed like this during the day-time is a very common 

 practice. 



In all districts the suckling of children continues up to a com- 

 paratively advanced age. A mother may commonly be seen 

 with two infants at the breast, and I have often come across 

 children of three, four, and even five years of age running up 

 for a suck. These women certainly do not continnue breast- 

 feeding their children for these lengths on the chance of avoiding 

 pregnancy, 2 - and yet several cases have been made known to me 

 where they have been very determined on the matter; e.g., during 

 the year 1897 Mrs. L. in attempting to wean a four or five year 

 old youngster by taking its Keppel Island mother away on a 

 three weeks' visit to the Yeppoon, discovered that the latter had 

 during the whole period secretly got one of the other gins to 

 suckle her breasts regularly so as to keep them full. As the 

 babies become older, they are fed more and more on honey, 

 kangaroo and opossum flesh, etc. Though no exact statistics are 

 obtainable, the loss of infant life is very marked, especially 



32 Amongst these folk I am very doubtful of there being any such physio- 

 logical connection. 



