YAB-00-RAGOO ALIAS MICKIE 289 



Mickie is very proud of his well-conditioned spouse, 

 "Jinny" — "Missus Michael," as Mickie calls her when in 

 the sportive vein — and Jinny, or " Penti-byer," her maiden 

 name, reciprocates the regard, and sees that the dilly-bag, 

 which does duty for the larder, is supplied with yams, nuts, 

 roots and shell-fish, Mickie being responsible for the fish — 

 speared in the lagoon at low tide — and the scrub-fowl eggs, 

 and the ivory white grubs, etc., upon which they live when 

 there is no " white fella " sitting down. When Providence 

 sends a "white fella," they appreciate flour, tea, sugar, 

 potatoes, meat, and all sorts of game, from cockatoos to 

 flying-foxes. Once Mickie was asked how he managed to 

 win the favour of such a fine gin. "Unkl belonga her 

 giv 'em me," he replied. There was no marriage ceremony. 

 There was no knocking out of a tooth, or the administration 

 of a stunning blow on the head with a nulla-nulla, no eating 

 of maize-pudding from the same plate, no drinking brandy 

 together, no " hand fasting," nor boring of the bride's ears 

 by the bridegroom, no tying of hands, nor smearing with 

 each other's blood, nor binding together with ropes of 

 grass ; simply, " Unkl belonga her giv 'em me." Once in 

 his possession, however, and Mickie proceeded to set his 

 mark on his bride, so that should any dispute arise as to 

 identity, he at least would have authentic brands. With 

 an apparently studied array of cicatrices, each 3 inches 

 long and half an inch wide, on her arms and shoulders, 

 Mickie marked Jinny for his own. The couple have one 

 girl — Mickie prefers to use the word " daw-tah " — and his 

 child had been but lately received into the bosom of the 

 family, after several years' exile among the whites. It is 

 somewhat of a trouble that " Minnie " had almost forgotten 

 her native tongue, and that her parents have to yabber to 

 her in English. According to them it will be a year before 

 Minnie regains lingual facility. In the meantime great 

 pains are being taken with her education, and her accom- 

 plishments promise to be varied, though entirely unorna- 

 mental. She will in time be able to recognise at a glance 

 the particular kind of decayed timber in which the delicious 



