sce with acids. From another specimen the stone appears to be
agate of a milky hue, semi-pellucid, and strikes fire. The vein from
which it appears broken off is one inch and a quarter thick. A third
specimen contains a portion of cornelian, partially crystallized, a
fragment of chalcedony, and a fragment of a crystal of white quartz.

...

And again in Mitchell's Expeditions into Australia, volume 2 page 338: In
these girdles the men, and especially their coradjes or priests,
frequently carry crystals of quartz or other shining stones, which they
hold in high estimation, and very unwillingly show to anyone; invariably
taking care, when they do unfold them, that no woman shall see them.

...

FORMS ON MAKING VOWS AND PLEDGES.

Genesis chapter 24 verse 9. And the servant put his hand under the thigh
of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning that matter.

This is exactly the form that is observed in South-western Australia,
when the natives swear amity to one another, or pledge themselves to aid
one another in avenging a death.

One native remains seated on the ground with his heels tucked under him,
in the Eastern manner; the one who is about to narrate a death to him
approaches slowly and with averted face, and seats himself cross-legged
upon the thighs of the other; they are thus placed thigh to thigh, and
squeezing their bodies together they place breast to breast. Both then
avert their faces, their eyes frequently fill with tears, no single word
is spoken; and the one who is seated uppermost places his hands under the
thighs of his friend; having remained thus seated for a minute or two he
rises up and withdraws to a little distance without speaking, but an
inviolable pledge to avenge the death has by this ceremony passed between
the two.

One remarkable custom prevalent equally amongst the most ancient nations
of whom any records are preserved, and the modern Australians, is that of
naming children from some circumstance connected with their birth or
early infancy. Thus in Genesis chapter 30 verse 11: And Leah said, A
troop cometh, and she called his name Gad; etc. etc. etc.

Burckhardt observed the same custom among the Bedouins and says:

A name is given to the infant immediately on his birth; the name is
derived from some trifling accident, or from some object which had struck
the fancy of the mother or any of the women present at the child's birth.
Notes on the Bedouins, page 55.

CUSTOM OF