292 



" They knock both front teeth out, and mark their body with 

 tattoo scars. 



"The dead are buried in trees, and later on the marrow is 

 abstracted from the bones and eaten. The men eat that of their 

 wives, or vice versa, the women that of their husbands, accord- 

 ing to who may die first ; but at any rate, it seems to be that the 

 privilege of eating the marrow is left to the nearest relations. 



" The mothers carry their dead children about with them for 

 some time after death, having wrapped them in a sheath of bark 

 from the paper-bark tree. The flesh soon dries in this way. The 

 coi-pse is also frequently hung in a tree with this covering about 

 it, and later on the bones are cracked and the marrow eaten. 

 (Whether the marrow was simply considered good food, or wliether 

 there was a superstition attached to this gruesome practice, my 

 informant could not state.) 



" To protect themselves against the aggressions of the swarms 

 of mosquitoes that appear in many places during the whole of the 

 year the natives construct an oven-shaped sleeping place of clay. 

 To form the dome tliey pile a heap of bushes together, which they 

 cover with mud just thick enough to stand by itself, and when 

 dry, pull the bushes out of the hole left for the purpose of entering 

 the structure. This opening is just large enough to allow a man 

 to squeeze in, and is closed by a tussock of spinifex pulled into it 

 from outside, so that it jams in tight. Such almost airtight 

 dormitory is often occupied by the whole family during the night, 

 when the heat must become terribly stifling, only to be endured 

 by blacks. 



" Paene omnes Kimberleiani Septemtrionalesque pueros habent 

 quibuscum stupra faciunt. Pueri ad libidinem inoitati penem in 

 incisuras eorum ponunt. Qua licentia multo magis quam voluptate 

 sexuali se f rui illi affirmant. 



Extracts from My Diaey. 



Uh June, 1891 (Near Everard Range). — Towards night a 

 blackfellow came to our camp. He made a fire a little dis- 

 tance away when he was signalled to sit down. For this 

 purpose he had brought his piece of lighted bark. On our 

 approach he gave us to understand that he had killed a kangaroo, 

 showing us where it had scratched him on the arm. He was 

 quite naked and of fine physique, with plenty of tattoo scars 

 about the upper arms and chest. We gave him something to eat 

 and some tea, but he did not eat much, being evidently too full 

 of kangaroo. After receiving some presents and clothes he 

 departed, but from his signs it appears that he will come back 

 and bring some more blacks with him. 



5th June. — The black returned this morning accompanied by a 



