from hand to hand, and from
tribe to tribe. Other articles they had which I suppose were similarly
traded for, viz., an old iron tent-peg, the lid of a tin matchbox, and a
part of the ironwork of a saddle on which the stirrup-leathers hang. This
piece of iron was stamped A1; this, I fear, is hardly a sufficient clue
from which to trace its origin. Their weapons consisted of spears, barbed
and plain, brought to a sharp or broad point; woommeras, throwing-sticks,
and boomerangs of several shapes, also a bundle of fire-making implements,
consisting of two sticks about two feet long, the one hard and pointed,
the other softer, and near one end a round hollow, into which the hard
point fits. By giving a rapid rotary movement to the hard stick held
upright between the palms of the hands, a spark will before long be
generated in the hole in the other stick, which is kept in place on the
ground by the feet. By blowing on the spark, a little piece of dried
grass, stuck in a nick in the edge of the hollow, will be set alight and
the fire obtained.

As a matter of fact this method is not often used, since, when travelling
from camp to camp, a firestick or burning brand is carried and replaced
when nearly consumed. The gins sometimes carry two of these, one in front
and one behind, the flames pointing inwards; and with a baby sitting
straddle-legs over their neck and a cooliman under their arms make quite
a pretty picture.

Amongst the ornaments and decorations were several sporrans of curious
manufacture. Some were made up of tassels formed of the tufts of boody's
tails; other tassels were made from narrow strips of dog's skin (with the
hair left on) wound round short sticks; others were made in a similar
way, of what we conjectured to be bullock's hair. All the tassels were
hung on string of opossum or human hair, and two neat articles were
fashioned by stringing together red beans [Beans of the Erythrina] set in
spinifex gum, and other seeds from trees growing in a more Northerly
latitude. This again shows their trading habits. Here, too, were
portmanteaus, holding carved sticks of various shapes and patterns,
emu-plumes, nose-bones and nose-sticks, plaited bands of hair string, and
numerous other odds and ends.

In the evening we watered the camels, and lucky it was that the
parakeelia existed, and so satisfied them with its watery juice that they
were contented with very little, Satan and Misery not swallowing more
than two