he
same again.

They can instead, if they like, choose some other woman they know,
which seems very accommodating in those presiding over the
reincarnation department.

Sometimes two baby spirits will hang on one branch and incarnate
themselves in the same woman, who as result is the mother of twins, and
the object of much opprobrium in the camp. In fact, in the old days,
one of the twins would have been killed.

One of my Black-but-Comelys said, on hearing that a woman had twins:

'If it had been me I would have put my fingers round the throat of one
of them and killed it.' The woman who made this speech I had always
looked upon as the gentlest and kindliest of creatures.

The father of the twins has treated his wife with the utmost contempt
since their birth, and declines to acknowledge more than one of the
babies.

They say the first-born of twins is always born grinning with his
tongue out, as if to say, 'There's another to come yet; nice sort of
mother I have.'

No wonder the women cover themselves under a blanket when they see a
whirlwind coming, and avoid drooping Coolabah trees, believing that
either may make them objects of scorn as the mother of twins.

When a baby is born, some old woman takes the Coolabah leaf out of its
mouth. Such a leaf is said always to be found there if the baby was
incarnated from a Coolabah tree; should this leaf not be removed it
will carry the baby back to spirit-land. As soon as the leaf is taken
away the baby is bathed in cold water. Hot gum leaves are pressed on
the bridge of its nose to ensure its flatness; the more bridgeless the
nose the greater the beauty.

When a baby clutches hold of anything as if to give it to some one, the
bargie--grandmother--or some elderly woman takes what the baby offers,
and makes a muffled clicking sort of noise with her tongue rolled over
against the roof of her mouth, then croons the charm which is to make
the child a free giver: so is generosity inculcated in extreme youth. I
have often heard the grannies croon over the babies:

Oonahgnai Birrablee,
Oonahgnoo Birrahlee,
Oonahgnoo Birrahlee,
Oonabmillangoo Birrahlee,
Gunnoognoo oonah Birrahlee.

Which translated is:

'Give to me, Baby,
Give to her, Baby,
Give to him, Baby,
Give to one, Baby,
Give to all, Baby.'

As babies are all under the patronage of the moon, the mothers are very
careful every new moon to make a white cross-like mark on the babies'
f