MESSAGES AND "MESSAGE STICKS."— HAMLTNHAItRIS. 



33 





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This stick was ohtaiiicd liy 'Slv. W. ^A. Chambers, wlio was 

 stationed at AVyiulham. It was said to be tal)u to women. I am, 

 however, inclined to dispute this statement, and beyond placing the 

 remark on record 1 should hesitate to accept it until such a statement 

 has been definitely confirmed. 



There are three sinuous (unbroken) lines winding from end to 

 end, reaching to within about one inch of each end. These are 

 interspersed by animal tracks heading in oppo.site directions. 

 Message unknown. 



Western Australia. — I am greatly indebted to Mr. L. Glauert, 

 of the Perth Museum, for his notes on Western Australian inessage 

 sticks, and as they are of value to the student I reproduce the 

 greater part of them here. 



"The distribution, as illiistr.-ited in tlie Pertli Museum cnllec-tions, is from 

 Kimberley to Sliark's Bay and inland to tlic Upper Gascoyne, Wilnia, and tlie 

 country around Meuiies and Davyhurst. 



' ' In the National Museum, Melbourne, are specimens from Northampton 

 near Geraldton, York and Esperanee Bay on the .South-east Coast. 



"In shape the object is usually cylindrical, with pointed, rounded, or 

 truncated ends. The length varies from 4:1 to 27i inches, and the thickness from 

 '< to 2 J inches. 



' ' Three specimens, oval in section, connect these message sticks with the 

 ' marbeu ' or passports figured by Clement * and the ' cugina ' or ' gilliana ' or 

 invitation stick of the same writer.' These churinga-like objects, used by men 

 and women of the North-west and Kimberley as charms and head ornaments, 

 are usually termed 'Lara' by the blacks of tlie neighbourhood of Broome. At 

 the same time it must be noted that a police constable, recently returned from 

 Peuder Bay, Dampier Land, near Broome, informed me that these 'eobba-cobba 

 sticks' were used to summon aboriginals to attend cobba-eobbas or eorrobborees. 

 In connection with tliis matter I have no further particulars except the state- 

 ment by Dr. H. Klaatsch to the effect that message sticks were unknown in the 

 Broome country, so far as he was able to ascertain (4). 



"Tlie Technique. — A suitable piece of wood having lieen obtained, the 

 surface was smoothed and the design executed in scratches produced by a sharp 

 object such as a chip of stone, piece of shell, broken bone. As a rule the 

 markings are fine and hairlike, but a type from the Gascoyne, Ashburton, and 

 Kimberley (2?) (C. 263, 364, 694, 697, 7]0) is ornamented with grooves which 

 are both wide and deep. Often the design is accentuated by a 'shading' of dots 

 or transverse cuts and by the rubbing in of some black material, probably black 

 earth or a mixture of charcoal and fat, ivhich fills the scratches. 



"On several specimens from the Kookyuu district, the pattern has been 

 burned in by applying heated iron wire, a metliod which has superseded the 

 original practice of using glowing twigs or embers. 



* Austral. Assoc. Adv. Sc, vol. xi, Adelaide Meeting 1907, p. 580. 



