NORTH VUEKNSLANI) K'lHNOCKAHUY — KOTII. 75 



these are but kiiicks, cut usually with one lioiizoutal and one 

 verticHl blow by means of a metal touiahawk, just deep enoui^li 

 to atFord adequate support for the Ing toe ; where, as on Mor- 

 niniiton Island, a celt of some sort has been used, the knicks 

 must evidently have been hacked with many a blow. Though I 

 have seen this method used on the Pennefather River it is some- 

 what rare there, but of course, as in all cases of tree-clinibinji;, it 

 is onl}' when the l)utt does not lend itself to the body obtaining 

 a firm foot-hold, that the tomahawk, the cane-climVjer, and the 

 forked sapling are brought into requisition. 



11. Mictiirition a^ul Dejecation. — From observations made at 

 Capes Grafton and Bedford, on the Bloomfield and Lower Tully 

 Rivers, at the McDonnell and Moreton Overland Telegraph 

 Stations, and in the North-AVestein Districts, as to the position 

 assumed by the sexes in micturition, I find that it is customary 

 for the male to squat, except on the Bloomfield River, at the 

 McDonnell and Moreton Stations, and for the female to stand 

 with legs apart except at Cape Bedford and in the North West. 

 On the Bloomfield Hiver, the women may occasionally relieve 

 the bladder in the squatting position. The ]»rivates are never 

 handled. In the neighbourhood of Glenormiston'"', outside the 

 hut there has often been noticed a small mound of earth the top 

 of which is scooped out and subsequently beaten down, with the 

 resulting appearance of a volcano in miniature; this receptacle, 

 which is capable of holding quite a quart of fluid, is intended for 

 the women to micturate into. All over the State it is a common 

 practice to wash the hands by urinating over them. A Tully 

 River native to keep himself warm on a cold night, will often 

 urinate over his own legs purposely. 



In the Tully River District it is an invariable custom among 

 both sexes, during defecation, to squat with legs apart on a 

 broken bough, stick, or fallen log, always off the ground, on to 

 which they let the droppings fall ; both here and on the Bloom- 

 field River a child's excrement is put away in the fork of a tree'^* 

 Stones, sticks, grass, sand, anj'thing handy in fact, sometimes 

 nothing at all, is used to cleanse the person with after defecation. 

 On the Pennefather River, in the North West, and elsewhere, 

 but certaiidy not everywhere, a few liandfuls of earth are 

 scratched up, and in the excavation so formed, the emunctories 

 after being discharged are covered over with soil. 



•' According to Mr. J. Coghlau, the late manager there, who is not bure 

 whether tiiis mound is used by the men. Possibly, the receptacle is em- 

 ployed with a view to the preservation of the urine, etc., for subsequent 

 use— see Roth — Bull. 5 — Sect. 158. 



"' Roth— Bull. 5— Sect. 80. 



