BY RICHD. HELMS. 
399 
They believed that an enemy could secretly throw a " gibba " 
(stone) which would enter the body of the person it was to hurt 
and cause pain in the place it had entered.* 
If therefore anyone felt a pain in the body or any of his limbs 
the " Karaji " (doctor or wizard) of the tribe would bite or suck 
the place and generally produce a stone after a few minutes 
which he professed to have removed from the sore part. Some- 
times they even managed to show blood on the stone. As a rule, 
the patient would soon recover after this display of crafty fraud. 
These " Karaji," besides possessing these curative powers, were 
supposed to be able to work all sorts of miracles and charms, but 
generally each of them was noted for some special power. Some, 
for instance, were expert in making rain. For this purpose eagle- 
hawk feathers were rubbed between the palms of the hands in 
connection with various manoeuvres and gesticulations, invented 
and differently performed by each individual conjurer. Every one 
tried to inspire the onlookers with his special power and used his 
own methods to deceive the credulous. 
The dead were buried in different ways: either in a hollow tree, 
if the corpse could be dropped down from the top, or in a sitting 
position in a hole dug in the ground, or a cavity was made at the 
bottom of a deep hole where the corpse was pushed in and some 
stone slabs placed against it before the hole was filled up. In 
each case the body was tied up in some fibrous bark with the 
knees drawn towards the abdomen and the limbs firmly lashed 
together. Great wailing and lamenting preceded the burial for 
several days; the relations, and more particularly the women, 
chopped and gashed their heads with stone tomahawks till 
blood flowed freely. When the body was disposed of, they 
smeared pipeclay over their heads and faces as a sign of mourning. 
This outward sign of sorrow was retained for some time, but as a 
rule much longer by the women than by the men. But as soon 
as the flesh of an enemy was eaten, even if this were on the day 
* This superstition is evidently the same as the "pointing of a bone," 
believed in by most of the Australian indigenes, in another form. 
