THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



295 



initiated into the status of manhood, 

 foregather with their elders. Further 

 back it is subdivided into cubicles 

 which seem to be allotted to the males 

 of different family groups. Each has 

 its own fire-place of clay built upon a 

 frame- work of cane, and bows, arrows, 

 and other properties hang upon the 

 walls. Long wooden hooks with a 

 dis? of bark above them are susi)ended 

 from the roof, and serve to keep food, 

 which may be hung upon them, from 

 the ravages of numerous rats which 

 find comfortable shelter in the thick 

 thatch. But strangest of all are racks 

 of human skulls adorning each cubicle, 

 which are the remains of enemies. In 

 days gone by the skulls of Kaimari 

 numbered many thousands, and were 

 added to as opportunity offered by 

 raids upon neighbouring villages. So 

 they were destroyed by order of the 

 government, and but few are left. 

 In LTrama nearby, however, skull-racks 

 are still preserved, and are greatly 

 valued by their owners. We endeav- 

 oured to purchase them, offering un- 

 told wealth in the form of tobacco, 

 arm-shells, brightly coloured cloths, 

 and other things treasured by the 

 natives, but our blandishments were 

 in vain until Ave chanced upon a happy 

 scheme. Hurley informed the owners, 

 through an interpreter, that they were 

 required for a great ravi in Sydney 

 far bigger than any the Gulf had 

 ever known, and wherein were stored 

 skidls from north, south, east and west. 

 And we told them this ravi would exist 

 for all time, when they and their child- 

 ren's children were long dead, and that 

 the skulls we asked for would be shown 

 to everybody so that they might know 

 Avhat a great race of fighters the Urajna 

 people were. This flattery succeeded 

 where all else had failed, and at last 

 the old head-man Gormi Avent to his 

 rack, and, after much deliberation, 

 selected a skull A\hich he exchanged 

 for approved trade goods. His ex- 

 ample was followed by the others, 

 and Hurley succeeded in procuring a 

 small number for exhibition in the 

 Australian ]Museum. We packed them 

 carefully in cases, the natives providing 

 soft fibre for the purpose, and they 



obviously approved of our appreciation 

 of their treasures. 



Beneath the racks of human skulls 

 are ranged crania of pigs and crocodiles, 

 and rows of strangely carved boards 

 which seem to have some ancestral 

 significance. They are conventional 

 representations of a face, with many 

 accessory decorative scrolls and angular 

 lines, and, being coloured with red, 

 white, and black pigments, demand 

 attention among their sombre sur- 

 roundings. They are of endless variety 

 but each of the delta villages has some 

 characteristic feature in the design 

 which is carved upon these boards, and, 

 though they are interchanged between 

 the various villages, their source can be 

 recognised by those who are familiar 

 with them. We collected many at 

 Kaimari which had come from quite a 

 number of neighbouring villages,though 

 by what means and why, we Avere 

 unable to ascertain. 



Hurley photographed all these strange 

 decorations assiduously, expending end- 

 less plates and many hundreds of feet 

 of film until his record Avas complete. 

 We then passed on to a dark inner 

 sanctum Avhich Avas carefully screened 

 from public vicAV, though many presents 

 of the coveted " kuku "' (tobacco) had 

 to be distributed before Ave Avere per- 

 mitted to enter. 



This portion of the ravi Avas over 

 sixty feet long, but had narrowed down 

 to twelve feet Avide and Avas only eleven 

 feet high. When our eyes had become 

 accustomed to the darkness, AAe per- 

 ceived seventeen queer figures made of 

 interlaced cane, and in part resembling 

 a four-legged cassoAvary with the yaAvn- 

 ing gape of a crocodile. Beneath each 

 one Avas a strange bundle Avrapped in 

 spathes of palm-leaA^es and bound Avith 

 cane. What Avas concealed Avithin 

 them, and Avhat Avas their significance ? 

 It is part of a naturalisfs training to 

 be curious about things Avhich are 

 unknoAvn to him, and the A-ery fact that 

 we Avere not permitted to touch them, 

 made us desire more than ever to 

 examine their contents. 



For seA^eral days Ave sought an op- 

 portunity of investigating and photo- 

 graphing these sacred precincts, and 



