289 



say, they name themselves as coming from this or that ground ; 

 but all have personal names. 



The tattoo scars are produced by incisions made with the sharp 

 edge of a stone. Emu feathers are placed in the wounds, and tlie 

 flesh allowed to grow over them. When these become very painful 

 and gathers, as is often the case, a medicine man is called into 

 requisition to suck the feathers out. In this he generally suc- 

 ceeds, and is then called very clever. In fact, Bal Bolyera Kabul- 

 yera (He medicine man very clever) is a standing phrase to 

 encourage the suffering, when in such cases, the sucking of the dis- 

 seased part, or some professed charm, produces the cure. 



Formerly the natives used to go to a great deal of trouble to 

 build extensive weirs to catch fish near Peil's Inlet. Here the 

 Murray and Serpentine join ; the first, coming from a northerly 

 direction, is a confined watercourse, but the Serpentine, coming 

 from soutli-west, passes through a number of swamps and lake- 

 like expansions. Particularly in the Serpentine they used to 

 build these weirs, called Mungo by them, where the water nar- 

 rowed again after passing through the expansions. These Mungos 

 were very carefully constructed of long fine sticks of spearwood 

 (a kind of titree) laid at tlie bottom as smooth as a carpet, and 

 ending in narrow openings. Near these the blacks would watch, 

 catching the fish as they were coming over the smooth sticks, and 

 nick them at tlie back of the liead with their teeth before flinging 

 them on to the land. Or a net would be set at the end below the 

 narrows. Sometimes very large catches were made this way, par- 

 ticularly at the beginning of the winter, when, with the increased 

 rains, the fish returned fi'om the spawning places up stream. At 

 this time the blacks would watch day and night for the fish to 

 come, relieving each other. 



In the season when the fisli were plentiful the natives from all 

 <]istricts used to come to these places and have great feasts and 

 corroborees, and at the same time exchange weapons and imple- 

 ments ; those from more inland bringing Kailis (boomerangs) to 

 exchange for the spears of the coast tribes, the woods of the 

 various districts being respectively more suitable for these 

 w-eapons. 



At these meetings the "Babin" ceremony, which is "making 

 friends," was often gone through. The man who wished to make 

 friends witli the entertaining tribe would enter the assemblage 

 quietly and seat himself across the thighs of the oldest man, who 

 was probably the most influential among them, or a kind of chief, 

 clasping his hands together round the loins, and touch the belly 

 with his. Near the friend-seeker his wives, and perhaps sons, 

 may be seated, and some others may be sitting round, but all 

 appear unconcerned in the proceedings. Such apparent indifTer- 



