6 
MEMOIES OF THE QVEEHSLAHl) MUSEUM. 
Thomas*^ amongst others -tells us that a great part of the medicine used 
by the aboriginal is mere mummery, magical performances which at ))est act 
through suggestion. To the lay aboriginal mind these magical performances are- 
the real thing, and, taught. as the native always has been to look upon them with 
awe and mystery, he really believes in their efficacy; but the medicine man 
himself knows better, and although the power of the magical is strong upon 
him, he is nevertheless aware that his whole power and status in the tribe has. 
been accpured through -trickery practised when recpiired of him. Xo one knows 
better than he the impotency of many of his own methods, which he dare not 
betray except to the very few selected men, v'ho -ultimately share his impostures 
with him. 
One of the most universal practices amongst savages is that surrounding 
the cpiartz crystal, which is put to all kinds of uses, and first and foremost repre- 
sents tlie native medicine man’s principal stock-in-trade. The sucking of a 
stone or a piece of cpiartz from the wound of a patient — real or imaginary — 
is usually accompanied with an amount of magic at the expense of the victim, 
who is often made to suffer considerable punishment. (Coen River and 
elsewhere.) Even severe gashes are indicted before the magic stone can be 
brought to the surface, the victim never suspecting the fraud that has been 
practised upon him. 
"We have in the Queensland IMuseum collections three wooden hardwood 
points which are claimed to have been drawn from the head of a sick boy by a 
native doctor (Glenormiston, X.AV.C. Queensland). Q. M. Sp. No. QE 14/547.) 
There is probably a connection between these and the wooden splinters referred 
to by RotlT as characteristic of certain parts of the Peninsula. In connection 
with these he says; Sickness is brought about by some other boy putting a 
wooden splinter or bone into the patient.” Several such bundles of splinters, 
said to have emanated from the uoav extinct Lankelly tribe,® are also in our 
collection. (Q. M. Sp. No. QE 14/553 and 554.) One of these also contains 
two wallaby metatarsals and are undoubtedly charms, though Roth states that 
wooden splinters at the Coen are believed to be spear-points,”" but even these 
" X. \V. I’homus, Natives of Australia, 1806, chapter 3, page 43. 
‘ Eoth, North Queensland Ethnography, Bulletin 5, paragraph 137. 
® The Lankelly tribe, probably an otfshoot of the greater Nggeri-Kudi tribe, occupied 
the territory along the banks of the La.nkelly, a tributary of the Coen (Pennefather) River,, 
Cape A^ork Peninsula. 
“ Roth, Bulletin 5, paragraphs 139 and 140. 
