500 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION F. 



All over Australia the native bore with him, as he roved, his 

 spear, his boomerang, and his firestick. Whenever occasion 

 required, he sent rushing into the upper air his token of warning 

 or welcome, of invitation or defiance, of sorrow or rejoicing. 

 Comrades in the chase were summoned to aid in the pursuit of 

 bov;nding boomah or flying euro. Friends were warned away from 

 dried-up well or empty rockholc, or bidden to the gladdening 

 waters of the big lagoon, rich with fish in its depths, shellfish in its 

 banks, fowl on its shaded bosom, with emu, wallaby, and kangaroo 

 in the sturdy bnsh that grew around it. 



The smoke signs were read with keen watchful eyes, as they 

 bade to the feast, the dance, the camp fire, or the weird and wild 

 corrobboree ; or warned the braves that dvisky warriors were on the 

 war-path ; that blood, and blood alone, could meet the stern 

 demands of native law and justice. Everywhere the Australian 

 has ready to his hand the wherewithal to raise his smoke-flagged 

 message. Piercing spinifex, spreading bush, waving grass, 

 twisted rush, all roll out to the heavens the thought of his heart 

 at the thrust of his firestick. The flame-tipped firestick is the 

 sceptre wherewith he rules the bush world. Zealously treasured 

 tradition, long experience, and constant practice have made him 

 an accomplished adept at distance signalling. 



The course of procedure is generally as follows, varying chiefly 

 with the short-di.stance signals. When a message is to be sent the 

 signal fire is raised. The eyes of the Australian aborigine are 

 ever on the alert, and the presence of a smoke in the range of 

 vision is almost instantly detected. At once the native is all atten- 

 tion, and every variation of the smoke-form is noted and intelli- 

 gently interpreted. Should the signal reqviire reply, a reply signal 

 is quickly raised ; and if the message is one to be passed on the 

 signal code is promptly repeated. By this means messages are 

 promptly and accurately forwarded from point to point, over 

 hundreds of miles of distance, in a wonderfully brief si)ace of time. 

 Variations of the signal are made by various means — the color, or 

 hue of the smoke ; the size of the column raised ; the more or 

 less rapid change, when change is made ; the time of day at which 

 raised ; the site of the signal. Commoner and unimportant signals 

 last only a minute perhaps, and are raised anywhere. Long- 

 distance signals require a larger, denser volume of smoke, more 

 careful and elaborate manipulation, and are maintained generally 

 for a longer space of time. Anyone devoting attention to varia- 

 tions of smoke-form, and especially if he will institute experiments, 

 will quickly learn to detect numerous changes oF form wdiere 

 formerly nothing of the kind arrested attention ; they were there, 

 but were not seen. 



The Australian aborigine obtains his fire by the process, 

 frequently described, of rapidly rubbing together two dry pieces of 

 wood. Materials for his purpose are sufficiently abundant all over 



