Aborigines of Jjukc Boga. 467 



Fur a lesser crime the culprit would be assailed up to an 

 hour by two or three natives with throwing spears, which he 

 had much ado to stop to save his skin. If a man was deemed 

 worthy of death a favourable opportunity would be seized for 

 either spearing him to death, or dashing his brains out with 

 a large waddy. , 



Fuison tStlrki; ("T<-// (Tiiiiniiee ') and Their Use. 



The poison sticks of the doctor, or wizard (" BarngnuU ") 

 were, for the Boga tribe, three in number, uuide of the wood 

 from the yellow-fruited (c^uondong tree. They were each about 

 four inches long, half an inch wide, and were brought to a 

 point on each end. They were rounded on three sides, and flat- 

 tened on the fourth, with a little rough, mystic carving on the 

 rounded portion. They were tied together with sinews or 

 native string, and some portion of the condemned individual, 

 or something that had been used by him, was placed in the 

 centre. The whole w^as anointed with kidney fat. In some 

 out-of-the-way spot the doctor dug a shallow hole, and after 

 lighting the end of the sticks, covered the whole Avitli bark, 

 and then tilled it in, carefully, so as to leave no trace of the 

 place having been disturbed. The next day it would be opened 

 up again and attended to, and so on for perhaps many days, 

 the idea being to cause an infinity of suffering to the con- 

 demned person. By the time the sticks were completely burnt 

 the culprit was supposed to be dead, and there is no doubt but 

 that end would be attended to by the hendish ingenuity of the 

 doctor, possibly by the use of the throt4;ling noose (" Wooren "). 



The Thruttliin/ Loop {" K ooreii ""). 



This fiendish instrument for the destruction of human life 

 was made of long strands of sinews from a kangaroo's tail, 

 joined together to the required length and plaited. Four of 

 these plaits were laid side by side. One set of ends was formed 

 into a loop, and the other ends were fixed to a pointed piece of 

 kangaroo leg bone, the whole affair being about four feet long. 

 The noose would be thrown over the head of the unsuspecting 



16a 



