38 KKCOKUS OF THK AUSTKALIAN MUSKUM. 



agana=-name of animal) is used as a belt by the men, but as a 

 cross-shoulder piece or necklace by the women-®. The Peune 

 father River District natives have a very pretty shell waist-belt 

 made from the Oliva australis, Duclos, the native name of 

 which cowrie (NGG. ko-chi) gives the name to the completed 

 article. The shells are strung vertically as in 

 fig. 21, upon a double top-string, and tightened 

 tocether, as many as one hundred and seventy 

 having Ijeen counted on the one belt ; though 

 '''^' "^'^ manufactured and used by women, it may be 



worn by the males for decorative and corrobboree purposes. The 

 same folk also possess a bright yellow-coloured belt made from 

 the prepared outer cortex of the Dendrohium hkjibhnm, Lindl. 

 (NNG. zu-la), the belt itself being called a tchi-li, made by 

 women, the larger kinds are used as belts for 

 the men, the smaller as cross-shoulder bands by 

 the women, on all or any occasion, fighting, 

 dancing, etc. The actual i)rocess of its manu- 

 facture (tig. 22) has already been described-^ ; a 

 variation has since been met with, which is F'.-- — 



formed of three strips of cortex and four threads. 



35. Waist-circlets. — A Waist-circlet is invariablj' put on from- 

 below up, great difficulty being often experienced in getting it 

 into proper position. The Opossum-rope waist-circlet (.MIT. 

 mun-dolo) is met with in the Cloncurr}' and Flinders Districts,- 

 is ujnvards of an inch thick, and measures sometimes over a yard 

 on its outer circumference. It is made of a thick skein of fibre 

 — acting as a sort of core, around which a single external strand 

 of Opossum-string (often replaced by fibrje, etc.) is over-cast ; a 

 pattern representing areas of black bands is worked in with hair- 

 twine in this outer layer. In the smaller varieties (i.e., those 

 for females) the internal core or skein may be made of human- 

 hair twine instead of fibre, and there may be a few opossum-string 

 tags, forming a thin fringe as it were, hanging down in front. 

 It is worn by adult males at corrobl)oree time only, by young 

 boys at any time previous to reaching the first stage of social 

 rank, while that for a female may be worn on any and every 

 occasion. On the Middle Palmer, at Cape Bedford, etc., Waist- 

 circlets, with a fringe attached in front, (KIMF. mi-na, KYI. 

 yirpi) aie worn by the women only ; the circlet portion is usually 

 manufactured on a core of human-hair overcast with Isangaroo- 



*8 I am ignorant of the metliod of attachment of the two extremities. 

 " Roth— I'.ull. 1— Sect. 12 and pi. vi., fig. 2. 



