183 Manners and Customs of the Australian Natives, 



a manner that the stream forms a number of small cross- 

 lines^ in consequence of which the body assumes the' appear- 

 ance of being covered with a tight-fitting network of very 

 small meshes. The object of this custom partly is, as stated 

 above, to act as a cure for headache and inflammation, and 

 partly also to promote the growth of the young people, and 

 to preserve the strength and vigour of the aged ones. 



Many proofs might be given of the very slight conception 

 they can form of the relative bearing of cause and effect. 

 For instance, an elderly fellow, who had been kept for two 

 years in jail in Adelaide, had the idea that his beard, having 

 turned grey, had been dyed by the soap with which he had 

 been obliged to wash himself there. 



The women may be present at the operation of bleeding. 

 Wlienever engaged in this or certain other operations, the 

 '^witarna,^^ as above stated, is put in motion, to prevent 

 young unmarried people from unwittingly surprising them. 



The natives have also their regular doctors, called min- 

 tapas, who pretend to be able to remove, by sucking, sickness 

 out of the body. They put their lips to the pit of the stomach 

 in case of general disease, and to the suffering part where 

 confined to any fixed spot, and, after having sucked for some 

 time, pull out of their mouths a small piece of wood or bone, 

 pretending that this is the body of the disease, which had 

 been communicated by some e^dl- disposed person, and had 

 now been extracted by them. 



So superstitious are these ignorant children of nature, that 

 they have the fullest faith in these absurdities, and passion- 

 ately defend them against any one expressing the least doubt 

 respecting them, or hinting even that the mintapa might 

 have put the piece of wood or bone into his mouth previously. 

 They further appear to attribute to these rnintapas super- 

 natural powers, and to consider them almost as beings of a 

 superior class, to whom they assign after death a place of 

 residence different to that whereto other people are removed, 

 and which they call Pandarri Kurto (heaven^s cavern). The 

 souls of these mintapas are supposed to be at full liberty to 

 enter and leave this place, and are said often to appear in the 

 evening in human forms to these natives, bringing with 

 them new songs, and then disappear again. 



It is well ascertained that they have among them poets as 

 well as doctors, as has been proved in the case of Maltalla, 

 an old man, who shortly before his death made two songs, 

 which are now recited by his tribe. 



