NORTH QUEENSLAND ETHNOGRAPHY — ROTH. 75 



or death, when not'-'. These restrictions, which deal with such 

 varied subjects as dietaries, personal relations and property, 

 localities, names, etc., ate known under different terms : — ji-anna 

 on the Pennefather River, ta-mi on the Middle Palmer, tamanda 

 by the Kundara Blacks of the Lower Gulf Coast, aln-ta to the 

 Koko-warra Natives of the hinterland of Princess Charlotte 

 Bay, chamolo and kamma on the Lower Tully River, tcha-bul on 

 the Bloomfield River, and strange to say as ta-bul at Cape 

 Bedford and on the Lower Endeavour River. 



2. Some forms of the tabu are constant in that it can never be 

 removed, in others it may be released by the elders, occasionally 

 by one individual only (not necessarily an elder), but never by 

 women, who sometimes have the power of declaring it. During 

 her menstrual periods a female can never be freed from the tabu 

 imposed upon her consequent upon her condition ; so also in 

 connection with the final place of burial, etc., the prohibitions are 

 inexorable. The tabu on certain dietaries is often relaxed by 

 some of the very old men in favour of the young males when 

 food happens to be extra scarce on the Bloom held (/.'. Hislop). 

 Amongst the Tully River Blacks, who account for their food 

 restrictions as having been in existence as long as they can 

 remember, the only individual who can remove the tabu, and then 

 only from the kamma variety (see further), is the one wh< 

 business it is to wash the corpse's skin and rub its hair off during 

 the course of the burial celebrations (A\ Brooke). At Cape 

 Bedford the word indicative of the release from tabu is 

 dai-tcheu. 



3. Where the restriction is only temporary, it may be declared 

 by reason of animosity and pure wantonness, for the protection of 

 property, and sometimes as a recognised punishment. There may 

 1)" differences in the family circle ; the wife may have gone to all 

 the trouble and labour of collecting and preparing the day's food 

 for herself and family, when the husband will declare it tabu in 

 favour of the children, which accordingly precludes her having 

 even so much as a taste. A man will be going out of camp and 

 leaving some weapons, food, etc., behind, if he urinates upon the 

 former or in close proximity to the latter, they become " tami," 

 and he will find everything intact upon his return (Middle Palmer 

 River). On the Bloomfield, the Palmer, and elsewhere, a form of 

 " roarer " hung up by a string (Pis. xx., xxi.) will make everything 

 near or underneath it tabu; it is usually decorated with white 

 stripes on a red background, and sometimes has a nick at its free 



2 Roth -Bull. 5— Sect. 150. 



