114 ANTHROPOLOGICAL NOTES OF 50 YEARS AGO 



-persistently. It was found by tapping with the foot on 

 the ground. It grew about 12 inches below the surface, 

 and was best when from a year to eighteen months old. 

 It was so juicy as to be as good as a drink on a hot day. 

 They ate white ants, bee larvse, and bee bread. 



A " possum-belt " or loin cloth was worn, but by the 

 young gins only. The males wore nothing. A stranger 

 guest at a ceremony was distinguished by a few strips of 

 kano^aroo tail before and behind. 



The septum of the nose was gradually dug through 

 with the little finger nail, and a quill inserted. This was 

 considered a great decoration. 



The " humpies " were called " gundis," and were made 

 of bark. Goondiwindi (the town) simply means " the hut 

 on the water hole." 



They used no " woomerah." They had the ordinary 

 light currajong " heelaman," also a special " heelaman " 

 for warding off boomerangs. Certain blacks were the recog- 

 nised weapon- makers. The stone tomahawks were sharp- 

 pened by water and friction. One of their " grounds " 

 where these were prepared lies about 100 yards below the 

 old house at Cobboreena, on the west of the Creek. The 

 " dilly-bags " were made of Xerotes, which the gins scorched 

 while it was green, and, after a month, they pulled it up, 

 dried it, and used it. 



Currajong fibre was beaten out, steeped in water and 

 mud, and made into " dilly-bags." Kangaroo sinew was 

 used for sewing opossum rugs. The " reed-spear " was 

 unknown, brigalow being used. 



The " weet-weet " — a sort of torpedo-shaped stick — 

 was used in play. One man held a small green twig or 

 branchlet about three feet above the ground. Another 

 jerked the weet-weet through this, and the toy often flew 

 300 yards, the tail controlling its flight. They are 

 guided in making their appointments as to religious cere- 

 monies, etc., by the movements of the more conspicuous 

 heavenly bodies, as Orion's Belt, but a moonless night is 

 always chosen for such ceremonies. The Milky Way and 

 Magellan's Clouds are watched, but the Moon and Orion's 

 Belt are, in that order, their chief guides as to times and 

 seasons for social functions. They take interest in Venus 

 as an evening star, but fail to recognise her in the morning. 



