NORTH QUEENSLAND ETHNOGRAPHY — ROTII. 61 



large one on top licanging over tlie "door" which was only just 

 hig enougli to allow a person to crawl in ; heavy sticks were 

 leant up against the bark to keep it in position. These huts 

 wore mostly made in winter-time, and would hold eight or nine 

 people ; a small tire was kept glowing inside in the centre. 



7. In the hinterland of Princess Charlotte Bay, across and in 

 the Peninsula to the opposite Coast-line on the Pennefather 

 River, the dome-framework type of hut shews a formation of 

 door-way similar to that met with on the 

 Tnlly River, namely in the possession of a 

 special hoop of its own (fig. 35), supported 

 at its apex by another bent withe tied there 

 at right-angles, on to which the remaining 

 scaffolding is attached. For instance, on the 

 Kennedy River, 1 watched the construction j,.^ 35 



of the " Cabbage-tree" ])sdm-]eni (Livit>io7ia 



anstraUs, Mart.) hut represented in PI. xvii., fig. 2. Gnarwin, the 

 head of the local tiilie made it for himself and wives, who are here 

 represented. Withe ^ bent over into a hoop and fixed into the 

 ground at both extremities, forms the door-way ; withe ^, placed 

 at right angles to it and tied, has successively attached to it, the 

 remaining withes in the order indicated, all of which are subse- 

 quently strengthened by bent sticks interwoven or otherwise 

 attached more or less obliquely. In this particular instance tliere 

 did not appear to be any definiteness in the arrangement of the 

 axes of the leaves, up, down, or sideways, the 



y^^^^^^^ whole being prevented blown away liy means 



fl f \ of heavy timbers fixed firmly into the ground 



3// J I and pressing at an angle against them. Fig. 36 



■■:■ % -' " shews a similar method of construction from 



* J ^ the Pennefather River. Two long withes 



t'ig. 36. 1, 2^ twisted around each other for strength 



rind stability are fixed in the ground at either extremity, 

 hoop fashion, and tied low down on each side ; this double 

 one constitutes the future hut-entrance which is always 

 turned away from the prevailing wind. Withe ^ is fixed in 

 at its base at a point about midway between the imaginary line 

 joining the bases of ^ and - ; it is bent down and either by its 

 own spring held under the top of the original hoop, or else 

 jammed into its interstices, or else tied there. Nos. ^ , °, etc., 

 are then attached in similar fashion, usually by their own 

 elasticity, but also interlacing one another may be on top. 

 Sheets of bark {^Melaleuca sp., Eucalptus tetradonta, F.v.M.) ai e 

 next put on, and held in position by logs as before. The 



