6o 



THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



to provide novelties from time to time. Men are the chief performers; the women form 

 the orchestra, and make the music. Sometimes the men have boughs tied to their ankles, 

 feathers in their hair, the down of birds attached to their skin here and there, with drops 

 of blood, and other decorations. They paint themselves with coloured clays, the patterns being 

 horrible and fantastic. Thus a man will paint himself to look like a skeleton, the effect 

 of which by moonlight is weird, the lines of white standing out sharply against his black 

 body. The "figures" executed often represent warlike scenes. Sometimes the actions of 

 the emu or of the kangaroo are imitated. The ground is selected for the purpose, any- 

 thing which might hurt the feet 

 being removed. The scenic effect, 

 with the fires burning, and a forest 

 for the background, is very striking. 

 But the performance entails a great 

 deal of muscular exertion. The 

 women remain seated on the ground, 

 and sing the songs that properly ac- 

 company each " figure." An old man 

 stands near them, his duty being to 

 sing the first few words of each song, 

 and to beat time with two sticks 

 which he holds in his hands. 



Mr. A. AV. Howitt has written 

 a valuable account of the Australian 

 medicine-men, wizards, or doctors 

 (Journal of the Anthropological 

 Institute, XVI.). Over a large portion 

 of South-eastern Australia the term 

 '' blackfellow doctor" is always used 

 for those who profess supernatural 

 powers not merely of healing, but 

 others that are purely magical. 

 There are also " rain-makers," seers, 

 or spirit-mediums, and bards who 

 employ their poetic faculties for pur- 

 poses of enchantment. The wizards 

 are everywhere credited with the 

 power of conveying themselves 

 through the air, or of being conveyed 

 by the ghosts from place to place, or 

 even from earth to the sky. Numer- 

 ous accounts were given to Mr. Howitt 

 by natives of the "going up" of 

 these wizards. The reader will not be surprised to learn that the upward flights always 

 took place under cover of darkness, and that the return of the wizard is frequently accom- 

 plished by means of a tree, down which he was heard to descend and finally to jump on 

 to the ground; but these suspicious circumstances do not affect the faith of the Aboriginal 

 in the accomplishments of his wizard, who, in addition to the power of travelling to and 

 from the skies, is able also to hurl stones invisibly at any person or persons whom he 

 may wish to injure. The projectile generally employed for this amiable purpose is a piece of 

 the mineral known as quartz ("Bristol diamond" or rock-crystal), crystals of which are always 

 carried about by a "blackfellow doctor" as part of his stock-in-trade. All bright transparent 

 stones are sacred amulets which the doctor alone may touch or investigate. It is believed 



f/iolu by Kerry <t Co.] [ 



A MAN OF THE WORKI1 TRIBE, GILBERT RIVER. 



