488 ~ PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION F. 
jump and run at it, or else get others to swing them. They 
hold on with the hands above and feet below, the knees 
being extended outwards. I have noticed a similar thing 
along the Morehead River at the back of Princess Charlotte 
Bay. Among the northern Maitakudi and Grenada Kal- 
kadun, a sort of skipping-rope, turi turi, made from the roots 
of the Bauhinia, or white-gum, is held by two playmates, who 
swing it backwards and forwards—they do not circle it; but 
whether this is a development of the Bloomfield, &c., game, 
or only an imitation of the European pastime, there is but 
little chance now of discovering. 
Inorganic Nature—(a) In the N.W.-Central districts, 
Smoke-Spirals are played. thus:—Any leaf, small piece of 
light bark, or even a mussel-shell, by means of a peculiar 
motion of the wrist and arm, can be thrown in such manner 
into the dense smoke rising from an ample fire as to ascend 
with it like a spiral. There are different ways of holding 
the article in question, the most usual being represented in 
Pi. 1., 1. The wrist is rotated outwards at the same time 
that the forearm is jerked sharply forwards and downwards, 
the object leaving the hand just. at the completion of the 
movement. Another method of throwing the leaf into the 
smoke is to hold it between the fourth and fifth digits, as in 
Pl. I., 2, and, with a motion of the forearm similar to that 
in the preceding, to rotate the wrist inwards. The Kal- 
kadun, amongst whom I have noted this way of jerking it, 
speak of the game as piri-yorongo. A far easier and com- 
moner method of throwing it is to make the firmly-extended 
forefinger of the one hand act as a sort of spring on the .- 
other (Pl. I., 3), the leaf, at the moment of release, being 
shot at an angle into the smoke. At almost the opposite 
extremity of the State, in the neighbourhood of Rockhamp- 
- ton, I have seen the leaves of the brigalow (Acacia harpo- 
phylla, F. v. M.) similarly used in making smoke-spirals. 
(b) Playing at Mud-Slides is very common in and among 
the moist salt-pans at the back of Princess Charlotte Bay— 
men, women, and children alj joining in the fun, and laugh- 
ing at every mishap. A corresponding amusement is in- 
dulged in by the little boys along the mud-banks, at low- 
water, in the neighbourhood of Cardwell, &. They get a 
longish piece of bark, rest on it with the left knee and shin, 
and balance themselves in front by holding on tight with 
both hands (Pl. I., 4). They obtain the necessary impetus 
by kicking backwards in the mud with the right leg, and, 
with this movement rapidly repeated, they can skim along 
the mud-flats at a comparatively high rate of speed. (As 
