4 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM. 



made of this, especially in view of the fact that tons of material of such faked 

 implements leave our shores yearly to find a way into the collections of other 

 countries ; hence it is well to place those that are not aware of it on their guard, 

 and in the interests of square-dealing to question the honesty and integrity of 

 those whites who cause the natives to indulge in such practices, purely for the 

 financial advantage that may accrue. 



AVith the advance of civilisation, magical practices particularly are the 

 first to retreat into the background, and hence the importance of saving every 

 possible record while opportunity permits. The Queensland aborigine differs 

 from his brethren in central and other parts of Australia by the comparative 

 simplicity of his public life. The absence of such elaborate totemic organisations 

 and devices as are recorded of the A runt a 1 tribe, for instance, has doubtless 

 been instrumental in limiting the power of the heads or so-called medicine men 

 of the tribes, and consequently there is an accompanying decrease of magic and 

 superstition, which seems to be particularly noticeable in Queensland, and 

 manifests itself in various ways. Further, it is very suggestive that the absence 

 of " hereditary chieftainships" synchronizes with the non-existence of elaborate 

 ceremonial totemism. There is a remarkable paucity of objects associated with 

 superstitious ideas, and although doubtless many a simple stone, stick, or 

 " what not " may have been used for magical purposes in the past, unfortunately 

 history records but few instances. The cause and effect is doubtless due directly 

 or indirectly to the food supply, for as long as the country can guarantee the 

 native a liberal diet, the tribes, nomadic only within a limited area, live com- 

 paratively peacefully and the exercise of magical influences becomes corres- 

 pondingly diminished. The death of any one member of their tribe, natural 

 or otherwise, was always the signal for revenge and lust, and their firm belief 

 that death could only be due to the evil intentions of someone else was doubtless 

 responsible for the magical death-bone as a medium by which such a death 

 could be easily avenged. The use of the death-bone 2 has been almost universal 3 

 and is still in vogue to-day in some of the out-of-the-way places of the State, 

 but whether it is actually " pointed " and " sung " or not, its presence alone 

 is still a powerful safeguard in the possession of such as would seek protection 

 from the hands of a wilful foe ; many women never venturing out after nightfall 

 without having such a bone carefully secreted in their hands. 4 The concealment 

 of the death-bone is responsible for much ingenuity on the part of the native 

 at times. 



1 Spencer and Gillen, The Northern Tribes of Central Australia, 1904. 



2 Dr. W. E. Eoth, North Queensland Ethnography — Superstition. Magic, and Medicine — 

 Bulletin 5, paragraph 144, Brisbane, 1903. 



3 Miss C. C. Petrie tells me that her father, Mr. Tom Petrie, knew no death-bone amongst 

 the members of the old Brisbane (Turrbal) tribe. This is very astonishing. 



4 On the authority of Mr. M. J. Colclough. 



