Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1884 edition. Excerpt: ... tribe, the head men decide that he must be punished with death. The tribe or clan harbouring the offender is then requested to give him up to justice. If this request is granted he is killed by the nearest relatives of the person whom he murdered, with spears or boomerangs. But if the request should be refused, war is proclaimed against those who are giving him succour. Messengers or heralds (tederin-tederin) are employed by the head men to convey important information to the representatives of distant clans or tribes. Sometimes a stick is used bearing the number of notches or cuts representing the number of persons to be informed; sometimes a skin is sent, such as a padimelons, which signifies Murri, a man, to another Murri, man. All kinds of important information is conveyed in this way. Such messengers are regarded as sacred persons, and are safe to travel anywhere so long as they possess the proper sign or emblem. Magic is practised by the medicine men or wizards; they are supposed to possess supernatural powers, and can cause illness or death by enchantment. "Yangurra" is a kind of charm consisting of a dead man's hair and fat, and iguanas' fat, mixed together in a kind of ball and fastened to a stick about six inches long, this is carefully kept concealed by the doctor until he requires to make a person ill, or cause his death, when it is unwrapped and laid before his camp fire, pointed carefully in the direction of the supposed location of the person whom he desires to injure. It is supposed that the spirit of the dead man whose fat is contained in the charm will cause the injury. Recovery from illness is supposed to be brought about in much the same way, that is, the doctor by enchantment removes the cause of the trouble....