NATIVE SUPERSTITIONS.* 191 



the Europeans, is sometimes employed by the 

 Yas natives, but that by which it is characterized 

 by them and likewise by the natives of the Mur- 

 rumbidgee and Tumat countries, is " Merru- 

 dagalle." The aborigines say they manufacture 

 't, but would not mention the ingredients of 

 wliich it is composed ; this was a secret ! ! The 

 women are never permitted to look upon it, and 

 the priests impose upon their minds a belief, 

 that, should their curiosity prompt them so far, 

 they would instantly die. . 



These crystals are valued by them according 

 to their size, and it is not easy to procure a 

 large one from them. They are not only re- 

 garded as a charm by which wounds and dis- 

 eases of the human frame can be cured, but they 

 advance another step, by declaring, that when 

 thrown at a person (accompanied, I suppose, by 

 certain incantations) it will have the power of 

 causing his death. This power, said by them to 

 be possessed by the stone, having been men- 

 tioned one day by a native to a European set- 

 tler, the latter ridiculed it, and desired the 

 black to put it to the test by throwing it at him. 

 This, however, was refused, " he being good 

 man ;" alluding to the European, " he no want 

 kill him ;" and, after using every endeavour to 



