In the locket the movie star is very replaceable.
I repeated the lockets, perhaps one painting of a locket would have been ok but I wanted them to represent multiple fans, all those fanatics. I do always feel that I can relate better to female faces. So that must make me look at bit weird as I sit at my painting table! My Wallis Simpson project came about slightly by chance. A friend sent me a link for tickets thinking I might be interested. The timing was perfect, I had just finished the Jesse James work which was all about an obsessive relationship. I think I was looking for another one, something that would grab me.
Anyway, the talk was great, and I read the book. Wallis Simpson and her story is a complex one full of half-truths and myth. I started painting her without a very strong vision of how the paintings would turn out. And then I just kept making more and as I have gone along my focus has changed. Sometimes I paint Wallis from the perspective of Edward or from the viewpoint of the obsessed lover so they are really close up and sometimes grotesque. Sometimes I paint her in a flat, almost featureless way. I also, at times, paint objects that might have been given to her by Edward, and these represent his obsession.
Lately I have focused on one aspect of her physical appearance: These are the paintings I find most interesting but are often the oddest looking. You also focus closely on hair, clothing, and jewellery. You seem to refer in a very humorous way to historical paintings. Humour is such an important aspect of your work I think. I liked the idea of the opulent static marble bust and I was also thinking about sex dolls and obsession again.
I like the idea of a sex doll in the parlor of a large country house. These paintings are the beginnings of some ideas with a more obvious sexual theme perhaps for the future. I was also looking at a lot of pictures of Elizabeth I and actresses who have played her. The heart shaped hair seems sad and amusing all at once. I like reading about how women at this time went about making themselves look pretty, often with really harmful substances.
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All for love, or the hope of love. An artist I know Sarah Doyle often takes pictures of herself and her outfits and posts them online. They are already cropped in a manner which I am drawn to. The outfits she puts together are beautiful, humorous, colourful and very indicative of her personality. I asked her if I could use them as inspiration for some paintings and she agreed.
I collected 12 of her self-portraits and painted them very quickly. Still, I have had a new one made, exactly like the other, down to the collar and lapels and the very same buff waistcoat and breeches as well. I love this way of thinking about objects and particularly clothing: The idea of emotion is very present in your work.
We have to thank Mr. Stirling for permission to utilize certain drawings illustrative of native rock paintings which were originally made to illustrate Dr. Stirling's anthropological report dealing with the Arunta tribe. Finally, we have to express our deep sense of the obligation under which we lie to Dr. It need hardly be pointed out how much we are indebted to their work as indicating to us lines of inquiry, but in addition to this we have received from them the most cordial personal encouragement and help.
They have most kindly read through the proofs — indeed to Mr. Frazer we are deeply indebted for the final revision of these, and in offering them our warmest thanks, we venture to express the hope that the work may prove to be worthy of the interest which they have taken in it. Churinga which have just been returned after having been borrowed. During the performance of ceremonies they are placed on the small platform built in the tree.
The men are sitting in one of the Ilthura. Ceremony of Kangaroo Totem, the two men standing up wear small Waningas; the man lying down is supposed to be a dog. The Wurtja crouching behind his brake; on his back is a design of the Snake Totem; the Apulla lines are seen with the Group of Men in front of their brake; the man who will perform the operation of circumcision is on the left and his assistant on the right side.
The operator and his assistant standing in position during the performance of Lartna. The operator holds the small stone knife in his right hand. Immediately before the Ceremony of Ariltha; the two Arakurta embracing the Nurtunja, which has been used during a ceremony of the Bandicoot Totem.
The Churinga are stored on a platform called Thanunda. Iruntarinia Ceremony of the Unjiamba Totem: Ceremony of the Wild Cat Totem, showing the laying on of hands to cause the performers to stop. Ceremony of the large Lizard Totem: The man sitting down wears a special form of Nurtunja on his head.
Ceremony of the Irriakura Totem of Umbanjun, the decorated feathers on the head represent the flowering Irriakura. Ceremony of the Irriakura Totem of Oknirchumpatana. The performer sits in front of a series of tufts of feathers fixed in the ground. Ceremony of an Ant Totem of Alkniwukulla, to illustrate one form of Nurtunja; the lines of down represent roots of wattle trees, amongst which the women dig for ants; the performers represent women.
Iruntarinia Ceremony of the Unjiamba Totem, to illustrate one form of Nurtunja; the small cross pieces represent pointing sticks. The Erathipa Stone, showing the hole through which the Spirit Children emerge, and the charcoal line painted above it. The Illpongwurra lying down with their heads on the Parra, behind which are stacked the bushes which they carry when returning to camp.
Dance of the Illpongwurra round the performers of a ceremony; this running round is called Wahkutnima. The erection of the Sacred Pole, or Kauaua; the man who has climbed up is arranging the Churinga. Ceremony of releasing from the Ban of Silence; touching the mouths of the younger men with a sacred object. Ceremony of releasing from the Ban of Silence; touching the mouth of the younger man with a fragment of the food presented by him to the older man. Rocks at Quiurnpa which arose to mark the spot where the Illpongwurra were burnt during the Engwura.
Chimurilia, fur string bands and feathers worn by the Widow during the Urpmilchima Ceremony at the Grave. Outline Map of the Central Area of Australia showing the tracks followed by the four groups of Achilpa and the spots at which they camped. Outline Map of the Central Area of Australia in the region of the MacDonnell Range, showing the tracks followed by the various groups of Udnirringita and of Emu men, together with the spots at which they camped, and other localities concerned with traditions.
Nature of the country occupied by the natives — Distribution of the natives in local groups — Names given to the local groups — Local Totemic groups — The Alatunja or head man of each group and his powers — The position of Alatunja a hereditary one — Strong influence of custom — Possibility of introduction of changes in regard to custom — Councils of old men — Medicine men — Life in camp — Hunting customs — Food and method of cooking — Tracking powers — Counting and reckoning of time — General account of the more common weapons and implements — Clothing — Fighting — Local Totemic groups — Variation in customs amongst different Australian tribes — Personal appearance of the natives — Cicatrices — Measurements of the body — Moral character — Infanticide — Twins — Dread of evil magic.
THE native tribes with which we are dealing occupy an area in the centre of the Australian continent which, roughly speaking, is not less than miles in length from north to south, and stretches out east and west of the transcontinental telegraph line, covering an unknown extent of country in either direction.
The nature of the country varies much in different parts of this large area; at Lake Eyre, in the south, it is actually below sea-level. As we travel northwards for between and miles, the land gradually rises until it reaches an elevation of 2, feet; and to this southern part of the country the name of the Lower Steppes may appropriately be given.
Northwards from this lies an elevated plateau forming the Higher Steppes, the southern limit of which is roughly outlined by the James and Macdonnell ranges, which run across from east to west for a distance of miles. The rivers which rise in the Higher Steppes find their way to the south, passing through deep gaps in the mountain ranges and then meandering slowly across the Lower Steppes until they dwindle away and are lost amongst the southern sandy flats, or perhaps reach the great depressed area centreing in the salt bed of Lake Eyre.
Away to the south and west of this steppe land lies a vast area of true desert region, crossed by no river courses, but with mile after mile of monotonous sand-hills covered with porcupine grass, or with long stretches of country where thick belts of almost impenetrable mulga scrub stretch across.
We may first of all briefly outline, as follows, the nature of the country occupied by the tribes with which we are dealing. At the present day the transcontinental railway line, after running along close by the southern edge of Lake Eyre, lands the traveller at a small township called Oodnadatta, which is the present northern terminus of the line, and lies about miles to the north of Adelaide. Beyond this transit is by horse or camel; and right across the centre of the continent runs a track following closely the course of the single wire which serves to maintain, as yet, the only telegraphic communication between Australia and Europe.
They are formed by the disintegration of a thin stratum of rock, called the Desert Sandstone, which forms the horizontal capping of low terraced hills, from which every here and there a dry watercourse, fringed with a thin belt of mulga-trees, comes down on to the plain across which it meanders for a few miles and then dies away. The only streams of any importance in this part of the country are the Alberga, Stevenson, and Hamilton, which run across from the west and unite to form the Macumba River, which in times of flood empties itself into Lake Eyre. It is only very rarely that the rainfall is sufficient to fill the beds of these three streams; as a general rule a local flood occurs in one or other of them, but on rare occasions a widely distributed rainfall may fill the creeks and also the Finke river, which flows south from the Macdonnell range, which lies away to the north.
When such a flood does occur — and this only takes place at long and irregular intervals of time — then the ordinary river beds are not deep enough to hold the body of water descending from the various ranges in which the tributary streams take their rise. Under these conditions the flood waters spread far and wide over the low-lying lands around the river courses. What has been for often many months dry and parched-up land is suddenly transformed into a vast sheet of water.
It is only however a matter of a very short time; the rainfall ceases and rapidly the water sinks. For a few days the creeks will run, but soon the surface flow ceases and only the scattered deeper holes retain the water. The sun once more shines hotly, and in the damp ground seeds which have lain dormant for months germinate, and, as if by magic, the once arid land becomes covered with luxuriant herbage.
Birds, frogs, lizards and insects of all kinds can be seen and heard where before everything was parched and silent. Plants and animals alike make the most of the brief time in which they can grow and reproduce, and with them it is simply a case of a keen struggle, not so much against living enemies, as against their physical environment.
If a plant can, for example, before all the surface moisture is exhausted, grow to such a size that its roots can penetrate to a considerable distance below the surface to where the sandy soil remains cool, then it has a chance of surviving; if not, it must perish. In just the same way amongst animals, those which can grow rapidly, and so can, as in the case of the frogs, reach a stage at which they are able to burrow while the banks of the waterhole in which they live are damp, will survive.
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It is difficult to realise without having seen it the contrast between the Steppe lands of Australia in dry and rainy seasons. In the former the scene is one of desolation; the sun shines down hotly on stony plains or yellow sandy ground, on which grow wiry shrubs and small tussocks of grass, not closely set together, as in moister country, but separated from one another, so that in any patch of ground the number of individual plants can be counted. The sharp, thin shadows of the wiry scrub fall on the yellow ground, which shows no sign of animal life except for the little ant-hills, thousands of whose occupants are engaged in rushing about in apparently hopeless confusion, or piling leaves or seeds in regular order around the entrance to their burrows.
Amongst the ranges which rise from the Higher Steppes the scenery is of a very different nature. Here, wild and rugged quartzite ranges, from which at intervals rise great rounded bluffs or sharply outlined peaks, reaching in some instances a height of 5, feet, run roughly parallel to one another, east and west, for between and miles.
These ridges are separated from one another by valleys, varying in width from or yards to twenty miles, where the soil is hard and yellow and the scrub which thinly covers it is just like that of the Lower Steppes. The river courses run approximately north and south, and, as the watershed lies to the north of the main ranges, they have to cut at right angles across the latter.
This they do in gorges, which are often deep and narrow. Some of them, except at flood times, are dry and afford the only means of traversing the ranges; others are constantly filled with water which, sheltered from the heat of the sun, remains in the dark waterholes when elsewhere the watercourses are quite dry. The scenery amongst the ranges is by no means devoid of beauty.
The rugged red rocks, with here and there patches of pines or cycads, or stray gum-trees with pure white trunks, stand out sharply against the clear sky. In the gorges the rocks rise abruptly from the sides of the waterpools, leaving often only a thin strip of blue sky visible overhead.
In some cases the gorge will run for half a mile across the range like a zigzag cleft not more than ten or twelve feet wide. In addition to the Steppe lands there lies away to the south and west the true desert country where there are no watercourses other than the very insignificant ones which run for at most a mile or two across the sandy flats which surround the base of isolated hills such as Mount Olga or Ayers Rock.
In this region the only water is to be found in rock holes on the bare hills which every now and then rise out above the sand-hills and the mulga-covered flats. Nothing could be more dreary than this country; there is simply a long succession of sand-hills covered with tussocks of porcupine grass, the leaves of which resemble knitting-needles radiating from a huge pin-cushion, or, where the sand-hills die down, there is a flat stretch of hard plain country, with sometimes belts of desert oaks, or, more often, dreary mulga scrub. In this desert country there is not much game; small rats and lizards can be found, and these the native catches by setting fire to the porcupine grass and so driving them from one tussock to another; but he must often find it no easy matter to secure food enough to live upon.
The Native Tribes of Central Australia / Baldwin Spencer
In times of drought, which very frequently occur, the life of these sand-hill blacks must be a hard one. More likely than not, the little water which one does contain is foul with the decaying carcase of a dingo which has ventured down for a drink and has been too weak to clamber out again. The most characteristic feature of the desert country, next to the sand-hills, are the remains of what have once been lakes, but are now simply level plains of glistening white salt, hemmed in with low hills covered with dreary scrub.
Around these there is no sign of life, and the most perfect silence reigns. Such is the general nature of the great area of Steppe and desert land inhabited by the Central Australian natives. Kangaroo, rock-wallabies, emus, and other forms of game are not scarce, and often fall a prey to his spear and boomerang, while smaller animals, such as rats and lizards, are constantly caught without any difficulty by the women, who also secure large quantities of grass seeds and tubers, and, when they are in season, fruits, such as that of the quandong or native plum.
Each of the various tribes speaks a distinct dialect, and regards itself as the possessor of the country in which it lives. In the more southern parts, where they have been long in contact with the white man, not only have their numbers diminished rapidly, but the natives who still remain are but poor representatives of their race, having lost all or nearly all of their old customs and traditions. With the spread of the white man it can only be a matter of comparatively a few years before the same fate will befall the remaining tribes, which are as yet fortunately too far removed from white settlements of any size to have become degraded.
However kindly disposed the white settler may be, his advent at once and of necessity introduces a disturbing element into the environment of the native, and from that moment degeneration sets in, no matter how friendly may be the relations between the Aborigine and the new-comers.
The chance of securing cast-off clothing, food, tobacco, and perhaps also knives and tomahawks, in return for services rendered to the settler, at once attracts the native into the vicinity of any settlement however small. The young men, under the new influence, become freed from the wholesome restraint of the older men, who are all-powerful in the normal condition of the tribe. The strict moral code, which is certainly enforced in their natural state, is set on one side, and nothing is adopted in place of it. The old men see with sorrow that the younger ones do not care for the time-honoured traditions of their fathers, and refuse to hand them on to successors who, according to their ideas, are not worthy to be trusted with them; vice, disease, and difficulty in securing the natural food, which is driven away by the settlers, rapidly diminish their numbers, and when the remnant of the tribe is gathered into some mission station, under conditions as far removed as they can well be from their natural ones, it is too late to learn anything of the customs which once governed tribal life.
Fortunately from this point of view the interior of the continent is not easily accessible, or rather its climate is too dry and the water supply too meagre and untrustworthy, to admit as yet of rapid settlement, and therefore the natives, in many parts, are practically still left to wander over the land which the white man does not venture to inhabit, and amongst them may still be found tribes holding firmly to the beliefs and customs of their ancestors.
If now we take the Arunta tribe as an example, we find that the natives are distributed in a large number of small local groups, each of which occupies, and is supposed to possess, a given area of country, the boundaries of which are well known to the natives. In speaking of themselves, the natives will refer to these local groups by the name of the locality which each of them inhabits. Thus, for example, the natives living at Idracowra, as the white men call it, will be called ertwa Iturkawura opmira , which means men of the Iturkawura camp; those living at Henbury on the Finke will be called ertwa Waingakama opmira , which means men of the Waingakama Henbury camp.
Often also a number of separate groups occupying a larger district will be spoken of collectively by one name, as, for example, the groups living along the Finke River are often spoken of as Larapinta men, from the native name of the river. In addition to this the natives speak of different divisions of the tribe according to the direction of the country which they occupy.
Thus the east side is called Iknura ambianya , the west side Aldorla ambianya , the south-west Antikera ambianya , the north side Yirira ambianya , the south-east side Urlewa ambianya. Ertwa iknura ambianya is applied to men living on the east, and so on. Still further examination of each local group reveals the fact that it is composed largely, but not entirely, of individuals who describe themselves by the name of some one animal or plant.
Thus there will be one area which belongs to a group of men who call themselves kangaroo men, another belonging to emu men, another to Hakea flower men, and so on, almost every animal and plant which is found in the country having its representative amongst the human inhabitants. The area of country which is occupied by each of these, which will be spoken of as local Totemic groups, varies to a considerable extent, but is never very large, the most extensive one with which we are acquainted being that of the witchetty grub people of the Alice Springs district.
This group at the present time is represented by exactly forty individuals men, women, and children , and the area of which they are recognised as the proprietors extends over about square miles. With these local groups we shall subsequently deal in detail, all that need be added here in regard to them is that groups of the same designation are found in many parts of the district occupied by the tribe. For example, there are various local groups of kangaroo people, and each one of these groups has its head man or, as the natives themselves call him, its Alatunja.
Within the narrow limits of his own group the local head man or Alatunja takes the lead; outside of his group no head man has of necessity any special power. If he has any generally-recognised authority, as some of them undoubtedly have, this is due to the fact that he is either the head of a numerically important group or is himself famous for his skill in hunting or fighting, or for his knowledge of the ancient traditions and customs of the tribe.
Old age does not by itself confer distinction, but only when combined with special ability. There is no such thing as a chief of the tribe, nor indeed is there any individual to whom the term chief can be applied. The authority which is wielded by an Alatunja is of a somewhat vague nature. He has no definite power over the persons of the individuals who are members of his group.
He it is who calls together the elder men, who always consult concerning any important business, such as the holding of sacred ceremonies or the punishment of individuals who have broken tribal custom, and his opinion carries an amount of weight which depends upon his reputation. He is not of necessity recognised as the most important member of the council whose judgment must be followed, though, if he be old and distinguished, then he will have great influence.
Perhaps the best way of expressing the matter is to say that the Alatunja has, ex-officio , a position which, if he be a man of personal ability, but only in that case, enables him to wield considerable power not only over the members of his own group, but over those of neighbouring groups whose head men are inferior in personal ability to himself. The Alatunja is not chosen for the position because of his ability; the post is one which, within certain limits, is hereditary, passing from father to son, always provided that the man is of the proper designation — that is, for example, in a kangaroo group the Alatunja must of necessity be a kangaroo man.
To take the Alice Springs group as an example, the holder of the office must be a witchetty grub man, and he must also be old enough to be considered capable of taking the lead in certain ceremonies, and must of necessity be a fully initiated man. The present Alatunja inherited the post from his father, who had previously inherited it from his father. The present holder has no son who is yet old enough to be an Alatunja, so that if he were to die within the course of the next two or three years his brother would hold the position, which would, however, on the death of this brother, revert to the present holder's son.
It of course occasionally happens that the Alatunja has no son to succeed him, in which case he will before dying nominate the individual whom he desires to succeed him, who will always be either a brother or a brother's son.
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The Alatunjaship always descends in the male line, and we are not aware of anything which can be regarded as the precise equivalent of this position in other Australian tribes, a fact which is to be associated with the strong development of the local groups in this part of the continent. The most important function of the Alatunja is to take charge of what we may call the sacred store-house, which has usually the form of a cleft in some rocky range, or a special hole in the ground, in which, concealed from view, are kept the sacred objects of the group.
Near to this store-house, which is called an Ertnatulunga , no woman, child, or uninitiated man dares venture on pain of death. At intervals of time, and when determined upon by the Alatunja, the members of the group perform a special ceremony, called Intichiuma , which will be described later on in detail, and the object of which is to increase the supply of the animal or plant bearing the name of the particular group which performs the ceremony.
Each group has an Intichiuma of its own, which can only be taken part in by initiated men bearing the group name. In the performance of this ceremony the Alatunja takes the leading part; he it is who decides when it is to be performed, and during the celebration the proceedings are carried out under his direction, though he has, while conducting them, to follow out strictly the customs of his ancestors.
Group of Old Men at a Wurley. As amongst all savage tribes the Australian native is bound hand and foot by custom. What his fathers did before him that he must do. If during the performance of a ceremony his ancestors painted a white line across the forehead, that line he must paint.
Any infringement of custom, within certain limitations, is visited with sure and often severe punishment. At the same time, rigidly conservative as the native is, it is yet possible for changes to be introduced. We have already pointed out that there are certain men who are especially respected for their ability, and, after watching large numbers of the tribe, at a time when they were assembled together for months to perform certain of their most sacred ceremonies, we have come to the conclusion that at a time such as this, when the older and more powerful men from various groups are met together, and when day by day and night by night around their camp fires they discuss matters of tribal interest, it is quite possible for changes of custom to be introduced.
At the present moment, for example, an important change in tribal organisation is gradually spreading through the tribe from north to south. Every now and then a man arises of superior ability to his fellows. When large numbers of the tribe are gathered together — at least it was so on the special occasion to which we allude — one or two of the older men are at once seen to wield a special influence over the others. Everything, as we have before said, does not depend upon age. At this gathering, for example, some of the oldest men were of no account; but, on the other hand, others not so old as they were, but more learned in ancient lore or more skilled in matters of magic, were looked up to by the others, and they it was who settled everything.
It must, however, be understood that we have no definite proof to bring forward of the actual introduction by this means of any fundamental change of custom. The only thing that we can say is that, after carefully watching the natives during the performance of their ceremonies and endeavouring as best we could to enter into their feelings, to think as they did, and to become for the time being one of themselves, we came to the conclusion that if one or two of the most powerful men settled upon the advisability of introducing some change, even an important one, it would be quite possible for this to be agreed upon and carried out.
That changes have been introduced, in fact, are still being introduced, is a matter of certainty; the difficulty to be explained is, how in face of the rigid conservatism of the native, which may be said to be one of his leading features, such changes can possibly even be mooted. The only possible chance is by means of the old men, and, in the case of the Arunta people, amongst whom the local feeling is very strong, they have opportunities of a special nature.
It would be by no means impossible for him to propose to the other older men the introduction of a change, which, after discussing it, the Alatunjas of the local groups gathered together might come to the conclusion was a good one, and, if they did so, then it would be adopted in that district. After a time a still larger meeting of the tribe, with head men from a still wider area — a meeting such as the Engwura, which is described in the following pages — might be held. At this the change locally introduced would, without fail, be discussed.
The man who first started it would certainly have the support of his local friends, provided they had in the first instance agreed upon the advisability of its introduction, and not only this, but the chances are that he would have the support of the head men of other local groups of the same designation as his own. Everything would, in fact, depend upon the status of the original proposer of the change; but, granted the existence of a man with sufficient ability to think out the details of any change, then, owing partly to the strong development of the local feeling, and partly to the feeling of kinship between groups of the same designation, wherever their local habitation may be, it seems quite possible that the markedly conservative tendency of the natives in regard to customs handed down to them from their, ancestors may every now and then be overcome, and some change, even a radical one, be introduced.
The traditions of the tribe indicate, it may be noticed, their recognition of the fact that customs have varied from time to time. They have, for example, traditions dealing with supposed ancestors, some of whom introduced, and others of whom changed, the method of initiation. Tradition also indicates ancestors belonging to particular local groups who changed an older into the present marriage system, and these traditions all deal with special powerful individuals by whom the changes were introduced.
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It has been stated by writers such as Mr. Needless to say there are grades of skill recognised amongst the members of these two classes, in much the same way as we recognise differences of ability amongst members of the medical profession. It may, however, be pointed out that, while every group has its Alatunja, there is no necessity for each to have either a medicine or an Iruntarinia man, and that in regard to the position of the latter there is no such thing as hereditary succession.
Turning again to the group, we find that the members of this wander, perhaps in small parties of one or two families, often, for example, two or more brothers with their wives and children, over the land which they own, camping at favourite spots where the presence of waterholes, with their accompaniment of vegetable and animal food, enables them to supply their wants.
In their ordinary condition the natives are almost completely naked, which is all the more strange as kangaroo and wallaby are not by any means scarce, and one would think that their fur would be of no little use and comfort in the winter time, when, under the perfectly clear sky, which often remains cloudless for weeks together, the radiation is so great that at night-time the temperature falls several degrees below freezing point.
The idea of making any kind of clothing as a protection against cold does not appear to have entered the native mind, though he is keen enough upon securing the Government blanket when he can get one, or, in fact, any stray cast-off clothing of the white man. The latter is however worn as much from motives of vanity as from a desire for warmth; a lubra with nothing on except an ancient straw hat and an old pair of boots is perfectly happy. The very kindness of the white man who supplies him, in outlying parts, with stray bits of clothing is by no means conducive to the longevity of the native.
If you give a black fellow, say a woollen shirt, he will perhaps wear it for a day or two, after that his wife will be adorned with it, and then, in return for perhaps a little food, it will be passed on to a friend. The natural result is that, no sooner do the natives come into contact with white men, than phthisis and other diseases soon make their appearance, and, after a comparatively short time, all that can be done is to gather the few remnants of the tribe into some mission station where the path to final extinction may be made as pleasant as possible.
If, now, the reader can imagine himself transported to the side of some waterhole in the centre of Australia, he would probably find amongst the scrub and gum-trees surrounding it a small camp of natives. In front of this, or inside if the weather be cold, will be a small fire of twigs, for the black fellow never makes a large fire as the white man does. In this respect he certainly regards the latter as a strange being, who makes a big fire and then finds it so hot that he cannot go anywhere near to it.
The black fellow's idea is to make a small fire such that he can lie coiled round it and, during the night, supply it with small twigs so that he can keep it alight without making it so hot that he must go further away. Early in the morning, if it be summer, and not until the sun be well up if it be winter, the occupants of the camp are astir. Time is no object to them, and, if there be no lack of food, the men and women all lounge about while the children laugh and play.
The men will perhaps set off armed with spears, spear-throwers, boomerangs and shields in search of larger game such as emus and kangaroos. The latter are secured by stalking, when the native gradually approaches his prey with perfectly noiseless footsteps. Keeping a sharp watch on the animal, he remains absolutely still, if it should turn its head, until once more it resumes its feeding.
Gradually, availing himself of the shelter of any bush or large tussock of grass, he approaches near enough to throw his spear. The end is fixed into the point of the spear-thrower, and, aided by the leverage thus gained, he throws it forward with all his strength. Different men vary much in their skill in spear-throwing, but it takes an exceptionally good man to kill or disable at more than twenty yards.
Sometimes two or three men will hunt in company, and then, while one remains in ambush, the others combine to drive the animals as close as possible to him.
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- Studia Etymologica Cracoviensia vol 16.
On the ranges the rock-wallabies have definite runs, and close by one of these a native will sit patiently, waiting hour by hour, until some unfortunate beast comes by. In some parts the leaves of the pituri plant Duboisia Hop-woodii are used to stupefy the emu. The plan adopted is to make a decoction in some small waterhole at which the animal is accustomed to drink.
There, hidden by some bush, the native lies quietly in wait. After drinking the water the bird becomes stupefied, and easily falls a prey to the black fellow's spear. Sometimes a bush shelter is made, so as to look as natural as possible, close by a waterhole, and from behind this animals are speared as they come down to drink. It must be remembered that during the long dry seasons of Central Australia waterholes are few and far between, so that in this way the native is aided in his work of killing animals.
In some parts advantage is taken of the inquisitive nature of the emu. A native will carry something which resembles the long neck and small head of the bird and will gradually approach his prey, stopping every now and then, and moving about in the aimless way of the bird itself. The emu, anxious to know what the thing really is, will often wait and watch it until the native has the chance of throwing his spear at close quarters. Sometimes a deep pit will be dug in a part which is known to be a feeding ground of the bird.
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