The Euahlayi Tribe: A Study of Aboriginal Life in Australia

enuns or doctor-wizards of the

fession. They take him to a tribal burial-ground at night. There they tie him do

if he be shaky in his ner

gave me a recital of h

he spirit departed when a big star fell straight from the sky alongside the boy; he gazed fixedly at it, and saw emerge from it, first the two hind legs, then the whole

mb. He tried to shut his eyes, or turn them from the snake, but was powerless to do so. The snake crawled on to him and licked him. Then it went away, leaving the boy as one paralysed. Next came a huge figure to him, having in its hand a

It is in such stones that the wi-wirreenuns, or cleverest wizards, see visions of the past, of what is happening in the present at

eed round him, chanting songs full of sacred lore as regards the art of hea

kept him away from the camp all day and at night took him to a weedah, or bower-bird's, playground. There he tied

e weedah was changed into a bird, he was a great wirreenun; that is why, as

arch open at each end, through which the weedahs run in and out, and scattered in heaps all around ar

nown as 'Weedah,' died lately, so probably a new name will have to be found for the bird, or to mention it

ft without bonds. He was kept away from the camp for about two months. But he was not allowed to become a practitioner

ing cures

d by some enemy having put a dead person's hair', or bone in it. Looking wisdom personified in truly professional

sult the spirits. To that end he goes to his Minggah, a tree or stone-more often a tree, only the very greates

. If a wirreenun is too far away to consult his friendly spirits in pe

dream spirit-only wirreenuns' dream spirits are Mullee Mullee, the ot

oowees is a great chance for their enemies: capture the Doowee and the body sickens; knock the Doowee about before it returns and the body wakes up tired and languid. Should the Doowee not return at all, the person from whom it wandered dies. When you wake

s charge of this is one of the most feared of wirreenuns; he is a great magician, who, with his wonder

s bag, which has the power of self-movement, there is not a great chance of getting it back, though it is sometimes said to be done by a rival combination of magic. The

ng them where they please, to do what they are ordered, a

-pankey with that person's Doowee. One of the greatest warnings of coming evil is to see your totem in a dream; such a sign is a herald of misfortune to you or one of your immediate kin. Should a wirreenun, perh

who has lost it to Sleep, then the Doowee, should the terms made suit the wirreen

no man can live without Mulloowil, his shadow. Every one has a shadow spirit which he is very careful not to parade before his enemies, as any

always mahgarl, or taboo; any one touching ei

gst his multiplex totems,' as having greater

have a yunbeai, and sometimes a special favourite of the wirreenuns is given a yunbeai too-or in the event of any one being very ill, he is given a yunbeai, and the strength of that animal goes into the patient, making him strong

i animal; he may of his family totem, inherited from his

re, for example, a bird, and the wirreenun were in danger of being wo

yunbeai it was, sickened and lay ill for months. Two very powerful wirreenuns gave him a new yunbeai, piggiebillah, the porcupine. His recovery

on of his particular yunbeai, which he can mak

e Narran, dead some years ago, would show me his yu

to a quite clear spot on the other side of the fire; he muttered something in a sing-song voice, and suddenly I saw him beating his head as if in accompaniment to his song, and then-where it came from I can't say-there beside him was a lizard. That

ined until he was put into his coffin, then they disappeared and were never seen again. This man was the greatest of our local wizards, and I think really the last of t

the old legends, with an interpreter to make good

their deaths, the Gooweera, or pois

nd half an inch through, pointed at both ends

ut much smaller, about three inches

ra in the ground a few inches from the fire. While it is warming, he chants an incantation, telling who he wants to kill,

e point exposed; should he only want to make his enemy ill, he only partially binds the stick. Then he ties a ligature tightly round his right arm, between the wrist and

od from his enemy. The poison is prevented from entering himself by the ligature

ts the gooweera, then more leaves this done, he goes away. The next day he comes back with his hand he hits the earth beside the buried stick, out jumps the gooweera, his enemy is dead. He takes the stick, which may

that he knows anything about it. He may, on the other hand, confess that he is the agent. If the intercessions prevail, he produces the gooweera, rubs it all over with iguana fat, and gives the intercessor what fat is lef

f it some hair from the victim's head-a lock of hair being, in t

as a means of happy dispatch, the pro

nggah. The wirreenun on receiving the hair asks to whom it belongs. Should it belong to one of a tribe he is favourably dispos

the receiver of the hair gives it to the other one, who sings the death-song, warms the gooweera, and burns the hair. The person from whose head the hair on the gooweera came, then by sympathetic magic, at whate

air, which the owners or their relations recognise, claim, and recover. They find out, from the wirreenun, who put them

of hair, he will be watched and prevented fr

good working black boy would say he must leave, he was going to die. On inquiry

e boss's ears, confiscation would result in order to restore peace of mind in the camp. Before I left the station a gin brought me a

faith also in me. I used to drive devils out with patent medicines; my to

ake can cure a man who is bitten by a black snake, the method being to chant an incantation which makes the yunbeai enter the stricken body and drive out the poison. These various inc