247 



impressed with the fingers, and sometimes finished off with a 

 little piece of stick. It will he seen that these amusements are 

 always more or less instructive. 



When congregated together from various districts, as was the 

 case at the Eraser Range, corrobories are frequently held at 

 night for the entertainment of both men and women. Only the 

 men took part in the one I saw, which was not of special in- 

 terest, but the night previous elaborate head-ornaments had been 

 used in some special dance. As I did not see this dance I cannot 

 describe it, but from what T heard some allegorical significance 

 must have been attached to it, the meaning of which, however, 

 I could not ascertain. 



The very timid lot that was sui'prised by us at the rock-hole 

 between Camps 43 and 44 were anxious to pat us on the chest, 

 when they allowed us to approach, which we returned, taking it 

 to be a sign of friendship. On a previous occasion a black at- 

 tached a piece of fur from his beard into that of Mr. Streich's, 

 which was evidently intended as a pledge of friendship. 



Near Mount Squires the blacks, after receiving a gift of meat, 

 retui'ned thanks in their fashion, which has been more particu- 

 larly described in "Extracts from mv Diary," and is illustrated 

 on pi. 29. 



Approaching a- camp at night the natives always shout from a 

 distance, and only enter when they have been recognised. 



They are always careful to carry a piece of burning bark with 

 them on their day's march, or whenevei' they go any distance 

 away from camp ; this is partly for the purpose of setting the 

 spinifex-grass on fire, but principally to have fire ready when 

 about to settle down again. The dry bark of the dead " Mulga " 

 furnishes convenient strips for this purpose, which are, as a rule, 

 I'eadily obtainable, because this tree is the most common in the 

 interior, and frequently forms dense tliickets in the level parts 

 of the country. The universally-prevailing habit of carrying- 

 fire with them is, no doubt, necessary to some extent, on account 

 of the difficulty of making fire bj' friction from hard wood, soft 

 and pithy kinds Vjeing unobtainable. One of the best substances 

 for this purpose is a dry seed-stalk of the grass-tree, which, how- 

 ever is very rare, in fact, the tree was only met with in a few- 

 places towards the southern part of the Victoria Desert. 



From this continual habit of carrying fire about with them, 

 one is almost inclined to believe that they have lost the art of 

 producing fire by friction. At any rate, they cannot be very 

 expert at it, and although I tried several times to induce 

 different individuals to make it for me in that way, T never 

 succeeded. 



As far as the Hampton Plains, from the fii'st time a black was 



