SIGNALS BY SMOKE. 7 



sent at the murder were allowed to partake of this • 

 the morsel was supposed to make them more brave. 

 A dance was then commenced^ dm'ing- which the 

 heads were kicked along- the gTound, and the savag-e 

 excitement of the dancers almost amounted to 

 frenzy. The skulls were ultimately hung* up on 

 two cross sticks near the camp^ and allowed to 

 remain there undisturbed. 



In the beg-inning- of 1849 a party of Baduleg-as 

 who had spent two months on a friendly visit to the 

 natives of Muralug- treacherously killed an old Ita- 

 leg-a woman^ married to one of their hosts. Two of 

 her brothers from Banks Island were staying- with 

 her at the time^ and one was killed, but the other 

 manag'ed to escape. The heads were carried off to 

 Badu as trophies. This treacherous violation of the 

 laws of hospitality was in reveng-e for some petty 

 injiu*}^ which one of the Badu men received from an 

 Ita black several years before. 



When a larg-e fire is made by one tribe it is often 

 intended as a sig-nal of defiance to some neio^hbour- 

 ing- one — an invitation to fig-ht — and maybe con- 

 tinued daily for weeks before hostilities commence ; 

 it is answered by a similar one. Many other sig*nals 

 by smoke are in use : for example, the presence of 

 an enemy upon the coast— a wish to communicate 

 with another party at a distance — or the want of 

 assistance— may be denoted by makino* a small fire, 

 which, as soon as it has g-iven out a little column of 

 smoke, is suddenly extingiiished by heaping* sand 



