74 AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES. 



feather to the point of one of their spears, and fixes the spear upright at his door. 

 When the attention of a chief is called to this, he transfers the spear to the 

 middle of the camp. Two or three men come and draw their hands down it, and 

 retire to their wuurns ; no objection having been made, the chief takes the spear 

 to the two strangers and lays it down beside them, remarking that it belongs to 

 them, and is returned as a sign of friendship and welcome. If the friendship of 

 their tribe is not desired, a hint is given to them to go away. Three or four 

 young women at sunset will pretend to go for water, carrying pieces of 

 smouldering bark hidden in their buckets. These pieces of bark they give to 

 the strangers to make their fire on their journey home. The men immediately 

 set off, carrying the pieces of lighted bark under their rugs till they are out of 

 danger of pursuit. 



Messengers are attached to every tribe, and are selected for their intelligence 

 and their ability as linguists. They are employed to convey information from 

 one tribe to another, such as the time and place of great meetings, korrobones, 

 marriages, and burials, and also of proposed battles ; for, if one tribe intends to 

 attack another, due notice is always honourably given. Ambuscades are 

 proceedings adopted by civilized warriors. A.s the office of messenger is of very 

 great importance, the persons filling it are considered sacred while on duty ; very 

 much as an ambassador, herald, or bearer of a flag of truce is treated among 

 civilized nations. 



To distinguish them from spies or enemies, they generally travel two 

 together, and they are painted in accordance with the nature of the information 

 which they carry. When the information is about a great meeting, a korroborfe, 

 a marriage, or a fight, their faces are painted with red and white stripes across 

 the cheeks and nose. When the information relates to a death, their heads, faces, 

 and hands, their arms up to the elbows, and their feet and legs up to the knees, 

 are painted with white clay. Thus the appearance of the messengers announces 

 the natui'e of their news before they come to the camp. If their appearance 

 indicates a death, lamentation and disfigurement begin immediately. On arriving 

 at the camp they sit down without speaking, apparently unobserved ; and, after 

 a little time, one of them delivers the message in a short speech with intoned 

 voice. 



There are also teachers attached to each tribe, whose duty is to instruct the 

 young in the use of weapons, and in other needful information. Sometimes a 

 messenger is also a teacher. 



