64 RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



the rain can lie thus easily blocked fioui either quarter. The 

 level of the ground inside is not purposely lowered, though what 

 with the constant treading upon, it often gives one this appear- 

 ance. In the Cloncurry District specimens, in addition to the 

 thatch already described, the whole is usually covered with bark- 

 sheets retained in position b}'^ means of heavy boughs resting on 

 top. Talking of bark reminds me that so far as the district 

 around Boulia is concerned — and the same holds good for certain 

 otlier areas — its use as a wall-covering is unusual in the con- 

 struction of any variety of hut, but whether this is due absolutely 

 to scarcity of timber it is impossible to say, though the advent of 

 the European has been certainl}"- responsible for its substitution 

 by cattle-hides and galvanised iron with an accompanying 

 degeneracy in the framework. The annakadyi is another kind 

 of Boulia District hut built on a similar scatFolding as the 

 kuraui, but designed especially for warmth, and so for use in the 

 winter months. A flat-bottomed hole is dug into the ground to 

 a depth of about one and a half feet, or even more, the rather 

 elliptical outline of its sides forming the limits of the habitation 

 to be erected over it, the bottom of the excavation constituting 

 the future floor. The frame-work of "back-bone" and "legs" 

 is next inserted. Wet grass is then collected and wedged into 

 the spaces intervening between the j)rinna, and thick layers of 

 mud covered on ; the mud thus moistened soon becomes hardened 

 and, by means of the grass, fixed in position ; a ring of wet mud 

 about a foot in width is finally smeared round the limits of tiie 

 entrance for which it forms a sort of artificial door-frame, and 

 at the same time gives it a rather ornamental appearance. On 

 completion, a big tire is kindled witliin, near the further side, 

 opposite the door, with the result that, by sun-down, when the 

 embers are removed, the place is warm enough to sleep in. The 

 introduction of European clothes and blankets has liowever been 

 responsible for the giadual and marked disappearance of this 

 particular form of hut. Finding that tliey can obtain protection 

 from cold i)y the use of such coverings, the natives are dispensing 

 more and more with these structuies which entail no inconsider- 

 al)le amount of time, toil, and patience in their making ; the 

 change itself, owing to the.se civilising influences, has iiot been 

 a sudden one, the depth of the flooi- below the ground-surface 

 having been slowly decreased, while the height of the liut above 

 ground has been corres])ondin<i]y increased^". 



^° Mr. J. Craigie, late of Roxburgh Downs, had noticed this gradual 

 modification in liei^lit and depth during a stay on the Georgina River of 

 upwards of .seventeen years, but the explanation was given me by the 

 Hotilia natives. 



