116 PRESIDENTS ADDRESS—SECTION F. 
into the possession of white men. Even a lock of hair taken 
from a dead man and placed in the centre of a necklet is one 
of the most valuable and powerful charms which a man can 
secure. No part of a man, nor anything worn by him, appears 
to be ever used for purposes of evil magic amongst the Central 
Australian natives. At the same time we see clearly the idea, 
which is universally held amongst savages, that what we may 
call the essence or special virtue of a man is resident in any 
part of his body, such as a lock of hair, or even in the girdles 
and head bands which he has worn. 
We may now pass on to consider other forms of magic. In 
his childhood the native has heard plenty about the dreaded 
“ Kurdaitcha,’ the bogey man, who walks silently about the 
bush with his feet clothed in emu feather shoes so that he 
leaves no ordinary track, but when once the youth has been 
initiated he may possibly see a real Kurdaitcha, or, if he care 
to submit to a painful operation, may even act the part of one 
himself. A Kurdaitcha is a man who goes out either on his 
own initiative to avenge some private injury, or is sent out by 
the older men to kill someone who has offended against tribal 
custom. His hair is done up into a peculiar form of headdress, 
his body and face are grotesquely decorated with charcoal and 
lines of white down, and on his feet he wears shoes which are 
simply pads of emu feathers, the uppers being made of net 
twisted out of human hair string. It is not, however, everyone 
who may act the part of a Kurdaitcha; to qualify himself the 
native must first of all submit to an operation, which consists 
in the dislocation of a big toe. A stone is heated, and the ball 
of the toe placed upon it until, as the natives say, the joint is 
sufficiently soft; when this is so, a friend gives it a sudden 
wrench to the side, dislocating it, and causing it ever afterwards 
to stand out at a decided angle to the foot. To accommodate 
the toe there is a small hole left in the net work of the shoe. 
In some secret spot unseen by women and children, and even 
by other men, the shoes are bound on to the feet by human 
hair string, while the man chants over and over again the simple 
refrain—“ Intérlinia turla atipa, Interlinia atipa,” which means 
“ Interlinia (the native name of the shoe) to me stick fast, Inter- 
linia stick fast.” He may or may not be accompanied by a 
medicine man; if he be, the latter also wears the shoes; both 
of them steal stealthily towards the victim, carrying in their 
mouths the sacred Churinga, which prevents them from being 
seen, and ensures accuracy of aim. As soon as the victim has 
been speared, and is insensible, the medicine man, who has 
meanwhile kept in the background, comes forward, and heals 
him by magic power, closing the wound. In some cases a little 
lizard is carried, which is supposed to have the power of sucking 
up the blood; in others, when no medicine man is present, the 
