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17 thOcioler. — Two blacks came to our camp tliis inorning, 

 wlio seemed to be well known to those staying with us, and were 

 well received by them; the boy particularly displayed great 

 delight. The man possesses a marked Jewish countenance, and 

 the female is rather smarter than the general run of them. She 

 has a number of the red marks on the stomach, which they say 

 are caused by fire through carrying the lighted bark close to the 

 body during windy days. The male has the right central incisor 

 knocked out, is circumcised, and has the urethra completely slit 

 open. During the afternoon two more blacks made their appear- 

 ance at the rockhole and after\\'ai-ds came over to the camp. 

 They must have travelled a long distance, as they were very 

 thirsty and drank an enormous quantity of water "at the rock- 

 hole, and more later on at tlie ca)np. The older, a s]uart and 

 intelligent-looking fellow of about 2.5, had his head decorated 

 with a semicircle of magpie tail feathers, and wore a peg tln-ough 

 his nose. The younger is still a lad and not yet circumcised, 

 although he is getting a moustache. He lias an extraoi-dinary 

 large mouth even for a blackfellow and remarkably thick lips. 

 Both have their full set of teeth and wear their liair tied back 

 in the peculiar chignon-like knob previously noted. They come 

 from the south-west, and seem to belong to a different tribe to 

 those who have the teeth knocked out and who come from 

 Hampton Plains, but are evidently on friendly terms with them 

 'ind speak the same lanauacre. 



I9ih Octoher. — The blacks caught a number of lizards for me, 

 which are abundant here, but so difficult to catch on account of 

 their swiftness. The method of catching them is ingenious. One 

 of the blacks made a small fan of feathers, about four inches 

 long and wide, wJiich he fastened to a switch, and tied this to 

 two more lengths, so that it resembled a fishing rod with the fan 

 *Jii the end. When one of the lizards was I'unning by, the fan 

 was agitated in front of it a few feet above the ground, by wliieh 

 the attention of the lizard was attracted and wlien its eves wen; 

 nyetted upon the quivering feathers, the other black speared it 

 with the point of his yam-stick, often cutting its head off. The 

 accuracy of the aim wkr surprising, for T rarely saw them miss, 

 although the lizards a)-e only about half an inch wide. Even 

 through a dense bush I have seen them pierce the little reptiles, 

 which is still more surprising, considering how easily the branches 

 may divert the point of the stick from its aim. The women 

 brought in some bark of roots, which seemed to me as if it had 

 been lying in water for some time. It looked damp and had 

 the appearance of partial disintegration, as if the fibrous sub- 

 stance was parting. Probably it is put in \\-ater to loosen tlie 

 outer brown and earthy covering. They cliewed some of it 



