July 1, 1918. 
THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST 
Page Seven 
Morison and weighs 80 ounces. For detailed 
accounts see Tindale and Maegraith (1931), 
Tindale (1937), and Cooper (1943). 
TRADE ROUTES. Since the acquisition ol 
much material used by the aborigines was 
obtained by barter, a brief reference is made, 
in concluding this paper, to the method 
adopted. At the commencement of the 
European occupation, an elaborate and ex- 
tensive system of native trade routes, often 
covering long distances, existed in Australia, 
by means of which finished products and raw 
material, absent from certain districts and 
thus prized by the local inhabitants, was 
traded or bartered with adjoining or distant 
tribes, either directly or through the medium 
of an intermediate group. 
This system comprised a series of networks, 
consisting in turn of what could be termed 
main and subsidiary highways, which in 
places converged on important points, simi- 
larly to present day railway, road and air 
traffic. Travel, at least in the arid regions 
of the interior during periods of drought, 
caused severe privations and often death from 
hunger and thirst, and at such times, inter- 
communication thereabouts would have been 
hazardous. Long distances were traversed, 
often involving months of travel, to distant 
places, such as the red ochre mine on the 
upper slopes of Mount Hayward near Para- 
chilna by parties of natives from as far 
afield as Queensland and Central Australia, 
whilst there is also evidence that much prized 
material from this source reached the Kaurna 
or Adelaide tribe, although they had local 
resources of their own. Red ochre derived 
from this mine was highly valued owing to the 
mythical traditions surrounding its origin, 
and according to one account, it represents 
the blood spilt during a fierce struggle be- 
tween two legendary creatures, Marindi, a big 
dog and Adno-artina, a huge lizard. Pearl 
shell ornaments and other objects have also 
been found in localities a thousand miles or 
more from the nearest possible source of 
supply. Material bartered included almost 
everything required in the natives’ every day 
lives, such as axeheads, shields, woomeras 
(spear-throwers), boomerangs, spears, shell 
body ornaments, red ochre, resin, millstones, 
dilly bags, human hair, feathers for decora- 
tive purposes, fishing nets, digging sticks and 
pituri (Duboisia hopwoodii). Pituri, a plant 
with narcotic properties, was chewed with 
great relish after having been roasted and 
then mixed with ashes, mainly derived from 
certain species of Acacia and Eucalyptus, 
in addition, when thrown into small water 
holes where emus were accustomed to drink, 
it produced a stupefying effect, and so made 
their capture easier. It was, in consequence, 
highly prized and extensively traded from 
its main source of supply in Western Queens- 
land. During return j ourneys from planned ex- 
peditions, heavy loads were frequently car- 
ried upon the head, such as sandstone slabs 
for milling and moulded lumps of red ochre 
weighing as much as 80 lbs. Freedom from 
molestation when passing along regular trade 
routes appears to have been generally recog- 
nsed and the goods, upon arrival, subse- 
quently disposed of, to the accompaniment 
of preliminary friendly ceremonies, the rela- 
tive value of material exchanged being at 
times often either scarcely taken into account 
or completely ignored. Trade routes how- 
ever, had a deeper significance than the mere 
distribution of these articles, for in addition, 
they provided opportunities, readily availed 
of, to discuss and interchange, amongst other 
things both old and new, local traditions, 
corrobborees, ceremonies, and fresh ideas and 
methods generally, the distribution of many 
of wffiich was doubtless brought about to 
a large degree by such means. Trade routes, 
in short, provided the necessary channels for 
social, material and religious interchanges. 
Avenues of travel in the arid interior wumld 
have been restricted by the scarcity of water 
and in consequence the lack of game, to a few 
well defined tracks, and it is possible that 
some at least of these which later may have 
been identical with the more recent trade 
routes, played an important part in assisting 
the diffusion of the native population over 
portions of the Continent, assuming that 
somewhat similar climatic conditions were 
then prevailing. With the advent of Euro- 
pean influence and its subsequent encroach- 
ment on the innermost corners of Australia, 
these ancient trade routes gradually ceased 
to exist, but the whole system, whilst neces- 
sarily primitive, was an important, even if 
a modified counterpart of the highly special- 
ised methods of communication so essential 
to present-day civilisation. 
