ABORIGINAL SMOKE SIGNALS. 509 



Hollow trees are commonly used in ^'ictoria, oji the Darling, on 

 the Finke, and in the Northern Territorj*. * Green, dark smoke- 

 producing material is thrust into the upper part of the tube and 

 dry fuel at the lower end. On tiling, dark smoke issues from the 

 top of the tube, and varying effects are produced at will. fAt the 

 Glen Helen Station, Northern Territory, the signal was used to 

 indicate to wild natives the movements of the station blacks. Mr. 

 A". L. Solomon, M.P., states that to secure a variety of signal a 

 second separate smoke is raised a few feet from the base of the tree 

 by Northern Territory tribes. Speaking of this system of signalling, 

 Mr. C. Hope Harris, Survey Department, South Australia, says : — 

 " About sunset is their favorite time for these social inquiries. 

 The basis of such signals consists of puffs of smoke raised at 

 A^arious intervals, and continued ft-.r greater or lesser lengths of 

 time, further max'ked by peculiarities of appearance and relation to 

 the direction of the then prevailing wind. These eft'eots are pro- 

 duced by placing the fuel in such manner as to catch the wind over 

 the fire, heat it, and thereby cause it to ascend either in a calm 

 vertical column of smoke, or in a spiral coil, or in fitful pirffs. 1"he 

 sudden suppression of smoke is most remarkable, and evidently 

 forms an important element in the practical application of the 

 system ; and, taken into consideration in connection with the 

 readjustment of the fuel for another puff, we are led to infer that 

 the manoeuvre is the result of experience, transmitted or inherited 

 through many generations." 



INSTANCES IN ILLUSTRATION OF THE USE OF SIGNALS BY 

 NATIVES. 



H. T. Morris, Esq., Adelaide (H.M.S. Buffalo, 1836), sailed 

 through Investigator Straits, and smokes were raised first on 

 Yorke's Peninsula, and in rapid succession at Cape Jervis, Peeralilla, 

 O'Halloran Hill, Mount Lofty. Barossa, and on northward to the 

 bounds of vision. The natives evidently were informing friends 

 of the presence of strangers in their waters. Peeralilla, Hindmarsh 

 Valley, was a beacon hill from which signal fires and smokes were 

 exhibited. 



'' Mitchell's Australian Expeditions," vol. i., pp. 128, 197, 264^ 

 285 ; vol. II., pp. 241, 243, old edition, gives illustrations of use 

 of signals. 



Evre's Explorations, vol. i., p. 146; vol. ii., p. 281. 



The Journals of John McDouall Stuart, 1858-1862, pp. 215, 216,. 

 refer specially to the use of smokes at Attack Creek. 



Mr. W. P. Auld, of Stuart's Expedition. 1861-1862, relates that 

 on the return journey from the Indian Ocean news of the arrival 

 of the party at the region of the Taylor was conveyed to Mr. 

 Levi's Mount Margaret Station, over 600 miles on the line of travel,. 



» v. L. Solomon, Esq., M.P., Adelaide. t W. Thorold Grant, Esq., Adelaide. 



