8 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENSLAND MUSEUM. 



not get it, and the ' doctor ' said, ' Can't find him any more.' It had done its 

 work and I suppose could not be used a second time." 



In the Idamere district an emu phalanx, bearing the native name of 

 ' ' Koolburrie " (Q. M. Sp. No. QE 14/555), is used by the women as a cheek 

 and by the men as a hair ornament. The bone, which is cemented at one end 

 with native gum, savours, however, much more of a charm, and I am personally 

 convinced from comparative study of the latter characteristic. Perhaps later 

 further information on this point will be forthcoming. A curious gin's charm 

 from Boulia, also in the Queensland Museum collections (Q. M. Sp. No. QE 

 14/557), consists of a pair of kangaroo teeth mounted in gum (not unlike a 

 groover) and fastened to a message stick, cut only on one side (see Figure 5, 

 Plate V), and worn round the neck. These details are given on the authority 

 of Mr. J. A. Watson, who collected and donated it. Another charm, shown in 

 Figure 4, Plate V, bearing the native name of " Tikovana," or " Mantaka, " 

 comes from the locality of the Herbert River (Q. M. Sp. No. QE 14/559.) It is 

 reputed to have been used in battle, and consists of a rude oval of very soft wood, 

 the upper portion of which is decorated with a painted human face (eyes sunk into 

 the wood), whilst the lower portion is elaborately painted in black, red, and 

 yellow, and evidently is intended to be worn round the neck. The design is 

 so remarkably like those of certain fire-sticks from the localities of Cardwell 

 and the Johnstone River, that one cannot fail to be struck with the similarity; 

 hence it is not outside the bounds of possibility that this charm may be the 

 result of a little modern imagination. 



Magic stones of various sizes and of natural shapes are variously em- 

 ployed. At Glenormiston a magic stone, in shape not unlike an emu egg, 

 though smaller, is used for emu capture (see Figure 6, Plate V.) (Q. M. 

 Sp. No. QE 14/390.) To obtain a plentiful harvest of emu eggs a nest-like 

 hollow is formed on a hilltop and the emu " Mulkari " laid on it; incantations 

 are then made to propitiate the " Mulkari " or supernatural influence whose 

 favour is sought. 11 Magic medicine stones occurred to my knowledge in the 

 Cairns district and were in vogue for curing headache by tapping the affected 

 parts more or less energetically, according to the severity of the symptoms; th? 

 effects of such magic would doubtless be very efficacious. (Q. M. Sp. Nos. QE 

 14/391 and 392.) (See Figures 2 and 3, Plate V.) 



11 Doubtless the spirit of ' ' Mulkari ' ' of the North Queeuslaud medicine men is the 

 same as referred to here. See Both, Ethnological Studies, chap, xi, para. 2(30; Ibid., chap. 13, 

 para. 320. 



