26 RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MU8EUM 



kangaroo-tooth ornament attached to the hair at the temples, but 

 here used by children only ; on Mornington Island, a double 

 tooth-ornament is attached to the temporal hair of the females. 



11. Shell Hair- ornaments. — At Cape Grafton, around Cairns 

 and Atherton, etc., a comparatively small oval-cut piece of pearl 

 shell is fixed by means of beeswax to the liair of the beard, 

 temples, or forelock. Nautilus shell (MAL. kopa-kopa) is 

 similarly used on the Tully Biver. 



12. Fillets and Circlets; Opossum, etc., twine. — From the 

 fact that Opossum twine is met with very much more commonly 

 in the western than in the eastern portions of North Queensland, 

 fillets, etc., made from this material are but rarely to be observed 

 in the latter portions of the State ; that from the Tully River, 

 •where the Mallanpara call it mitin alter the animal, is the only 

 reliable example that I can call to mind. In the North-Western 

 Districts, the Opossum-string fillet'' is made of four separate 

 circlets of Opossum-twine bound together flat by means of four 

 ties, with the result that a hand-like oi-nament. over a foot long, 

 consisting of eiwht closely apposed strands, is produced ; the 

 extremities of this composite band are looped into the two tying- 

 strings to be kiotted at the back of the head. The Opossum- 

 twine is of the winding type, '^ being spirally wound around a 

 central human hair core, while, so far as the ties are concerned, 

 they are always made of plant fibre. The strands, as well s-s the 

 ties, are greased with red ochre— all Opossum-string ornaments 

 are in fact treated in this manner throui^hout these districts. 

 The fillet has sometimes lieen observed worn like a necklace in 

 the Boulia District, and both as a necklace and armlet in the 

 Cloncuny District. It is (1897) still manufactured, by males, in 

 the former, but raiely now in the latter, and may be worn liy 

 either sex any time subsequently to the first of the initiation 

 ceremonies. Its Pitta-Pitta name is mungkala, the same as 

 applied to some other Opossum-string ornaments ; in the Maita- 

 kudi language it is the chabo of the Leichhardt-Selwyn District 

 where exceptionallj'^ it used to be made of Rock-walhtby hair. 



There are two varieties of the Opossum-string ring or circlet 

 (PPT, mnngkala, MIT. wnppulara) in the North West Districts, 

 according as they are single or double. In the former case, 

 according as the central core is thick or thin, around which the 

 Opossum-twine is spirally and closely wound, the diameter varies 

 for different examples ; in the latter, the two circlets are fixed 



6 linth — Kthnol. Studies, etc., 18'.)7, tigs. 258, 259. 



7 Roth— Bull. 1— Sect. 15. 



