92 IKIKN KXPKDITION NAKIiATIVK. 



st'L'ii a wliitc mail bct'idf, and in tlicir alarm iiik' or two of tlie unni srizctl llicii- 

 .s[)ca.i"s; and poised tliem on their womeras ov spear-tlifowerx, but fortunately 

 LuiiL;kartitukukaiia,'.s jxiwerful vcjicc was heard just in time to })re\-ent what would 

 liave been an uiieomfoi'tablc! recej)tioii for ourselves. They evidently thought that 

 man and beast were one creature, and wlieii the latter caiue in two and we dis- 

 mounted they were iiukIi alarmed and sat down huddled together — the women 

 and one or two of the younger men crying from fear. However we reassuretl them 

 as well as we could and they promised to come to our camp, luit as soon as we 

 were <nit of sight in tlu^ scrub they took all their worldly possessions and iletl up 

 one of the lower hills Hanking the main mass, and there as the darkness came on 

 we saw their camp iir(^s thjtted about. 



Much to our regret we had no time to e.xiilore tlu', mountains, as our arra,nge- 

 ments left us only just time to join the main party at (Jleii Helen in the McDonnell 

 Kaiiges at the date previously fixed upon. Aftt?r taking a jihotograph of the 

 ravine, the light f(.)r which was uiif(.)rtunattdy very bad, we started liack towards 

 Ayers Rock. 



A great deal of persuasion and shouting was necessary in order to bring tlie 

 blacks down from the mountains. Lungkartitukukana e.xerted himself to the 

 uttermost, and the contortions of his l)ody whilst he forced out a volume of high- 

 pitched sound were most remarkable. 



At length W(; saw them coming tlown a,nd iiitv.v treating them to a little sugar 

 ami fat and the remains of very hard "johnny-cakes" and presenting them each 

 with a few matches — a valua.lile present — and a little toba(;co thi;y became reas- 

 sured. The men wore the emu-feather " chignons," fre<iueiitly seen in this part of 

 tlu^ country. These are pa<Is about ten inches in length, six in Ijreadth and two 

 in thickness, made up of emu feathers matted together in much the sanu' way as 

 in the Interliha or feather shoes worn by the Kurdaitcha. They are tied on tu 

 the l)ack of the head with string made of opossum fur, and into the upper angle on 

 each side is stuck a skewer of wooil with a little tuft of the white tips of the rabbit- 

 bandicoot {Pcragale lagoiis) tails, which they call Alplta,, or c;lse a tuft of feathers, 

 often of the Eagle-liawk. In addition to the opossum string the chignon is 

 attached to the hair by means of sharp-pointed pieces of wallaby and kangaroo 

 bone. 



One man was carrying a small bag of skin, jjroliably of the rat-kangai'oo, tied 

 I'Ound with hair string and containing, apart from his gii'dle, shield and womera, 

 his worldly possessions. These ccjiisisted of a tuft of emu feathers for corrobboree 



