NORTH QUEENSLAND ETHNOGRAPHY — KOTH. 59' 



with grass (PI xii., tig. 2), leaf, or bark. Tlie grass employed 

 is the " Bladv-grass " {Jmperata arundinacea, Cyr.) growing 

 from two and a lialf to tliree feet long ; haiulsful of it, with 

 the butts down, are laid against this frauuwork all the 

 way round, to be similarly followed by anotlier layer but 

 with the butts up. These two layers of bundles are next fixed 

 in position l)y means of a split cane which, fixed to one side of 

 the doorway, passes right round tlie hut, perhaps tied here and 

 there to the frame-work on its course, to be attached to the 

 other side of the entrance. Then, with the butts up, the liuiider 

 starts again with a single row of thatch, \)ut tixes it with cane 

 as he goes along, round aud round, s[)iral-wise, until he gets to 

 the top. Finally, at the very top he puts on some tea-tree bark 

 or palm-leaves, a couple of boughs i-esting on them and so 

 keeping everything in position^. The area enclosed by such a 

 hut (MAL. kanna) is of course oval, while the height is usually 

 well under four feet; the ground within is not excavated, nor 

 is the earth shovelled up around on the outside, although this 

 practice has been learnt of late years. The leaf used for 

 thatching is that of the Ijawyer-vine {Calamus sp.) and Fan- 

 palm (Licuala muelleri, Wendl. and Drude) though unfortu- 

 nately I never enjoyed an opportunity of watching their 

 employment. Where the thatcliing is of Tea-tiee {Melaleuca, sp.) 

 it is put on as follows (tig. 33): — Along 

 sheet (a) right round the base of the hut, 

 then vertical pieces (bj witli their ends 

 tucked into the frame-work and overlapping 

 the long sheet, to be followed by several ^ _ 



pieces laid horizontally on top (c), all kept j,j„ 33 



in position by means of a heavy log or two. 



Round the base of such a bark-thatched hut, sand is thrown 

 up against it to a height of five or six inches with a view to 

 prevent the bark from springing out. Both men and women 

 build the huts here. 



5. Alone the Coast-line northwards, e.g., at Cape Grafton, the 

 Bloomfield River, Cape Bedford and around the shores of 

 Princess Charlotte Bay, there is a tendency to construct the 

 circular framework of these huts by firmly sticking the saplings 

 or switches composing it into the ground along the limits of the 

 area to be enclosed (Fl. xvi., fig. 1), and then bending them over 



^ The hut for the special use of the boys during their initiation is- 

 similarly grass-thatclied, but is a very much larger building, and has no 

 bark or palm-leaves on top. 



