18 



laining strict silence. Eventually the most influential mem 

 ber begins conversation in a low voice, in which other mem- 

 bers join one by one. 

 and dancing. 



The event culminates in singing 



Fig. o. 



Often the visitor displays, for the 

 information of his friends, the emblem 

 of his mission, or person, painted in 

 pipeclay and ochre upon his chest. If, 

 for instance, he has been about on a 

 turtle-hunting expedition, he returns 

 ornamented with a large design re- 

 presenting a turtle. A striking dif- 

 Fig. 6. ference of design is made in distin- 

 guishing between a fresh-water (fig. 6) 



and a salt-water turtle (fig. 5). The annexed figures are 



facsimiles of native sketches. 



Superstitious Belief in a Xocturnal Monster. — All the 

 tribes encountered believe in the existence of a creature that 

 roams about, principally at nighttime, and is the terror of 

 the blacks, stealing upon them in their sleep and squeezing 

 their ribs from behind. The term 'devil-devil" has been 

 generally assigned to this being by the whites, and has be- 

 come of common use among the semi-civilized tribes. Among 

 themselves, they speak of it as ''Birrawulidda" in the Larre- 

 hiya, ''Winmeillon" in the W or/a it, "Bct7'anr/' in the Sherait, 

 and "Ngau.it" in the Berriiigiii. The '"devil-devil" is sup- 

 posed to possess no nose, two blanks for eyes, and two addi- 

 tional, powerful visual organs at the back of the neck, by 

 means of which he can see a very great distance. When he 

 makes a corrobboree with his companions, he is supposed to 

 use his shinbone as a wooden trumpet, which, after the cere- 

 mony, he replaces in its proper place. At daytime he usually 

 camps in holes, or caves, and his tracks are often found by 

 the blacks, who, when they imagine he is near, become stupi- 

 fied, as though intoxicated. AVhen a man has been visited 

 by the evil being, and has liad his ribs squeezed, the medi- 

 cine-man is summoned. The latter tics a stick along the suf- 

 ferer's back, and requests him to remain lying on tlie ground 

 until the pain has passed away. 



Some of the powerful old men of the tribes profess to 

 have stood face to face with the spirit, away from camp, and 

 to have asked him his name, whereupon he replied, ''Me 

 devil -devil," and disappeared. 



When a blackfellow has been visited, imaginatively, dur- 

 ing the niglit by the spirit, he does not inform his camp mates 

 of it until the morning. At times the magic influence exert- 

 ed by the monster over the blacks has the effect that they 



