NORTH QUEENSLAND ETHNOGUAPHY — ROTH. 43 



was better to get three fingers hurt instead of four ! At Brisbane, 

 this mutilation served to distinj^uish tlie coastal from the inlnnd 

 women, was performed by similar agency, usually l)y the old 

 women, and when the child reached about nine or ten years of 

 age. At Gladstone and Rockhampton, the amjjutation is said 

 to have I)een pei formed at the first initiation cereaiony. 



40. Armlets. — Opossum-twine armlets (PPT. mungkala), in 

 the form of circlets are met with everywhere in the North 

 Western Districts, and in a single length commonly elsewhere. 

 Feather tufts may be stuck in underneath them. In the iieigh- 

 l)Ourhood of Burketown, whence they may have been obtained 

 further westwards, the circlets often have tassels, etc., lianging 

 from them. In the Cloncurry District, armlets are either single, 

 made of one length of twine (MIT. jammal), or multiple, made 

 of three or four (MIT. malyeri) and then [nactically identical 

 with the chabo fillet* °. On the Gulf Coast-line between the 

 Mitchell and Staaten Kivers (Gunanni Trihe) an Emu-feather 

 twine armlet (yu-outabola = name of bird) is made and worn by 

 men only. 



The Pandanus-strip armlet (fig. 26, 26«) in one form or another 

 is met with throughout the Peninsula, to as low down as the 

 Staaten River on the Gulf-side, and the Bloomfield River on the 

 east coast. In its original form, it is 

 made of a single strip of Pandanus leaf, 

 the ends of which are fixed by splitting, 

 as already described*^ ; on occasion 

 however, the trouble of making it pro- 

 perly is considered too much, the ends Fig. 26. Fig. 26a. 

 of the strip being simply tied. In the 



more northerly areas {e.g., Pennefather River), it may ha 

 ornamented after drying at the fire with a glowing charred stick 

 so as to make a zig-zag pattern ; worn and made by men only 

 for decorative and corrobboree purposes. Local names : — KYI. 

 (Cape Bedford) monggan, KWA. rau-al, KM I. anjo-ana (the 

 name of the plant), NGG. agantra (also the name of the plant), 

 and GUN. malle-anga. 



The Pandanus-plait armlet is made and worn by men on the 

 Embley River, at the Morett)n River, and on the higher reaches 

 of the Batavia River. At the last-mentioned, it may be made 



*o At Brisbane, armlets were made from the skin cut vertically down 

 the belly of the Kangaroo — this portion of fur was of a lighter colour ; it 

 was worn by men on both arms, at corrobborees and other occasions for 

 full-dress {T. Petrie). 



*i Roth— Bull. 1— Sect 8 (e). 



