Art. Y. — Note on the Customs connected zvit/i the use of 

 the so-called Knrdaitcha Shoes of Central Australia. 



By P. M. Byrne. 



(Communicated by Professor Spencer). 

 [Eead November 1 Itli, 1895.] 



The following notes were written in 1892 in re.sponse to the 

 request of a correspondent, and are the result of careful inquiries 

 conducted amongst the blacks in the Charlotte Waters district. 

 As they have been gathered at first hand and are somewhat more 

 detailed than any yet published, it has been suggested to me that 

 it would be worth while placing them on record. 



I have been for many years well acquainted with the natives 

 of this district, but owing to the fact that it is now more than 

 twenty yeai's since the custom was practised, considerable care 

 has to be taken in order to secure authentic information. Any 

 blackfellow will give the inquirer replies to his questions, bub it 

 is only after making a great number of inquiries and obtaining 

 corroboration from various sources that it is possible to arrive at 

 a conclusion as to what is and what is not reliable information. 



There are in this district only two old men who have ever 

 worn the shoes themselves • the younger men only know of the 

 custom from the elders of the tribe, and in a few years it will 

 probably be forgotten. The shoes are now only made to supply 

 the orders of the whites, or perhaps to enable the old men to 

 illustrate the deeds of other days before the half-admiring, half- 

 sceptical members of the younger generation. 



The shoes themselves have been previously described. They 

 consist of a sole made of human hair and a great number of 

 intertwined emu feathers, a certain amount of human blood 

 being used as a kind of cementing material. The whole form a 

 large pad, flat above and convex below, with the two ends 

 rounded oft' so that there is no distinction between them. The 

 upper part is in the form of a net, made of human hair, with a 

 central opening for the foot, across which stretches a cord of 

 hair which serves as a strap for the instep. 



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