ABORIGINAL SMOKE SIGNALS. 507 



extent, but quite so hs to permanence of form for a distance and 

 time sufficient to permit of the signal being noted and interpreted. 

 An American locomotive starting from rest gives a quick strong 

 " chump," and em.its from its chimney, with constantly increasing 

 rapidity, a succession of clear cut steam rings, each ring revolving 

 with immense velocity upon its own annular circumferential axis. 

 At a short distance the characteristic form of these rings is readily 

 recognisable. An experienced enginedriver, however, seeing these 

 rings at a Ion? distance, and at a height at which the clearly 

 characteristic form had merged into one of considerably different 

 appearance, would nevertheless recognise the creation of the 

 locomotive, and know that it had borne the form above described 

 when first emitted. So, too, the native and the spiral smoke 

 signal. He recognises, even in the higher upper air, a form of 

 smoke which must originally have possessed all the characteristics 

 of the distinctly spiral form, though now the smoke he sees may 

 vary slightly from that form, and he so interprets it. 



(/^-INTERRUPTED OR INTERMITTENT SMOKES. 



Smokes which are used in the form of cut-off sections or suspen- 

 sions of the columns, side-puffs of smoke, balls (balloons or 

 cloudlets), parallels of smoke, whether raised from the same fire or 

 from closely adjacent fires a few feet apart, or two or three or 

 more in line at one spot. 



INTERRUPTED COLUMNS OF SMOKE. 



PoiveWs Creeh Tribe. — Native name of signal, " Madingall," 

 meaning "Plenty kangaroo track, me follow till dark." 



Bui row Creek Tribe. — Informing outside natives that the men 

 are leaving all lubras at camp. Only blackfellows allowed to 

 travel. Means used to produce the signal — balls of grass tied 

 with blackfellow's hair-string, and these are lighted at intervals. 



Tennanf s Creeh Tribe. — Native name of signal, " Coola," and 

 means — " We are travelling to a certain water": going to initiate 

 a young man; signalling blaclts to assemble. The signals are 

 raised at short distances apart, to denote the direction in \Nhich the 

 main body is travelling. 



* Port Darwin Tribe. — Ball or balloon signals are produced as 

 follows, i.e., the dark smoke is collected in a skin, held in the form 

 of a bag inverted over the rising smoke ; when the bag is full of 

 smoke one of the blacks who has been assisting releases the higher 

 end of the bag, whilst the other gives an upward tendency to the 

 collected smoke by throwing his arms up and alloAving the contents 

 of the skin to escape in the rising column in the form of a dark ball. 

 This manoeuvre is repeated again and again with great rapidity 

 and regularity. 



* Mr. G. W. Goyder, C.M.G., Surveyor-General, Adelaide. 



