PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. 487 
legs, and iguanas by the tail, with the usual results. On 
the lower Tully River small carpet-snakes may be caught, 
have their teeth rubbed down with a stick, and then be 
caged in gourds, calabashes, &c., until they die. The Kal- 
kadun blacks of the Selwyn, &c.. Ranges practice a form 
of “coursing,” as follows:—-A wallaby, dingo, rat, &c., 
having been previously caught alive, is kept for a time b 
means of string attached to one of its legs. When all the 
players are ready, and in position, the animal is let go, and 
must be caught with the hands only, no sticks, stones, or 
boomerangs being permissible in its recapture. On the 
border-line between amusement derivable from temporarily 
retaining captured animals as pets or playthings and do- 
mestication, attention may be drawn to the Torres Strait 
pigeons, cassowaries, &c., along portions of the eastern coast. 
After being caught, and their main wing-feathers pulled out 
(Cairns district) or cut (Tully River), pigeons are thus 
suffered to wander in and out among the camps, picking up 
any scraps of food or seed that they can. Young cassowaries 
are also often captured and fed by the scrub-blacks on the 
lower Tully, allowed to grow up, living as best they can, and 
following the aboriginals from camp to camp. Among 
these same natives pets may also be made of the ring-tailed 
opossum and the watlaby, both animals often straying away 
from “home” for hours at a time, hunting on their own 
account. Only in the case of the dingo does true domestica- 
tion and training take place. The pups are caught young, 
brought into camp, and tied up by the leg until such time 
as they become reconciled to their surroundings. Some- 
times a boy (on the Bloomfield), but more usually a gin, is 
placed in charge of these animals; in the latter case, it is a 
very common practice for her to suckle them, if necessary. 
The aboriginals appear to be very fond of their dogs, share 
their food with them, often speak to them as if they were 
intelligent beings, and do not believe in “suling”’ them one 
on to the other; in the latter case, they will indulge in 
violent outbursts of anger, even with their children—a most 
unusual occurrence—for attempting to do so. In the more 
southerly districts, the domestic cat is now to be met with 
in many a camp. During 1897, in the vicinity of Glad- 
stone, I came across some humpies belonging to blacks, 
whose stage of civilisation admitted of their even keeping 
fowls. 
Plants.—At the Bloomfield, swinging on the lawyer-cane 
(Calamus) is a common pastime. The hanging creeper is 
cut from 24 to 3 feet from the ground, and the children 
