80 
HORN EXPEDITION—ANTHROPOLOGY. 
he without he.sitation assigned aliout two-thirds of tliem to various ceremonies, 
that of the opossum constituting the majority, but for the remainder he, after 
careful inspection of the patterns, said he did not know what they were—that they 
belonged to “ ’nother fellow blackfellow.” The ceremonies represented to which 
names could be attached were, Sugar Ant (^Campajiotiis inflatus), Euro {Macropus 
robushis), Opossum ( Trichosurus vulpecula), Emu {Drommis nov(E-hoUa7idi(e), Snake, 
sp., Mulga (Acacia aneura), Miinyeru (seeds of Clayionia Balo7we?isis). 
I may add that other blacks also recognised the association of some of the 
articles but not of others. How so large a collection came to be hidden away 
together I could not ascertain, nor, as I have said, was it clear who were the I'eal 
owners, but they appeared to be the common stock of a considerable number of 
natives and possibly of more than one tribe. 
As to the manner of their employment I have already indicated that I could 
get no certain information ; however, I am pretty certain that, of a great number, 
no specific use whatever is made, but tliat they are regarded as objects of extreme 
and perhaps supernatural value, the possession of which confers distinction, these 
qualities requiring that they should be kept carefully hidden away in places 
known only to privileged persons. Some, however, the very long sticks for 
instance, appear to be actually worn in the ceremonies with which they are 
associated. In the emu festival, for instance, I understood that the stick, suitably 
decorated, is fixed so that one end is in the groove of the spine, being attached to 
the body and head, while the other end, decorated with a bunch of emu feathers, 
projects far above the head ; the idea being thus to intimate the long neck of the 
birds while appropriate movements are made l»y the wearer. In the figure 
representing the head of a man taking part in the Rain Dance by the Arunta 
natives at Charlotte Waters, the manner of wearing one of these elaborately 
decorated long sticks is shown (Plate VIII., Fig. 1). I have very carefully 
studied a considerable number of these sticks and stones, but have been quite 
unable to discern any association between the markings and the objects with 
which they are presumed to be associated; in fact nothing in the shape of an 
animal appears, except the sinuous outline clearly intended to be a snake on 
two or three of them. Doubtless, however, there is some such graphic connection 
even in respect of the geometric patterns. Mr. Schulze speaks of the markings 
as being understood only by the old man who has charge of the festival, the 
behaviour of the black at Kundunga indicated that they conveyed some informa¬ 
tion to him, and there was a general opinion amongst those conversant with the 
ways of the blacks that they had a very definite meaning. It was also definitely 
