carried from place to place by a native, and conveys news of war or anything else, according to the method of presenting the stick. If the receiver is ready to fight, another notched stick is returned. Should the native come on a peaceful errand he squats down within the camp and places his hands under his thighs in sign of amity.
And yet, with all their petty ludicrous battles and lack of courage, the natives bear pain with a finer endurance than any European. Punishments enforced by law are met with Spartan-like stoicism, and they permit spears to be thrust through the flesh of their legs or arms unflinchingly. To prevent deadly inter-tribal feuds a native has been known to willingly sacrifice his life so that peace shall be gained. The chief native frays are those which take place in their own tribe, which are made peremptory by their laws. If one steals another's wife, should the occasion warrant it, he is tracked with unrelenting tenacity. So quick is the aboriginal in sight and observation that he can follow the fugitives over any country and trace their steps in long grass, over hard ground, rocks—anywhere. Sleuth-hounds themselves are not more certain. When the runaway male is caught death ensues, or if his offence be considered not so serious, a certain number of spears are thrown at him according to law, after which, if he has succeeded in avoiding them, he is pardoned. Their laws deal with punishments and obligations in family affairs, with the chase, death, burial, and revenge on other tribes. In revenge they are practically based on the lex talionis principle—an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. Any native who wilfully kills another is followed by the friends of the dead, and no amount of pleading will mitigate the offence in the eyes of the wronged. But if it should happen that he escapes, then some near relative is sought in his stead. When the crime is committed the witnesses raise loud cries, which are taken up by distant natives and echoed throughout the woods. These cries signify the guilty party and who is connected with the family. The culprit seeks instant flight, and his relatives, from the little children to the oldest, are in fear lest the blow of retaliation shall descend on them. The friends of the sufferer give way to rage and grief, and confront the relatives of the murderer, and then all join in a search for the culprit. He has fled, and is followed relentlessly day after day, tracked by the human sleuthhounds, with intense energy and endurance. He is caught and killed, perhaps speared as he slept; otherwise, vengeance is wreaked on some relative, and the law is satisfied. A native who kills another accidentally is punished according to circumstances. If, when he spears one through the thigh in pursuance of the law, he injures the femoral artery and causes death, he is speared through both thighs. Adultery is severely punished, often with death. As before mentioned death is attributed to the witchcraft of a sorcerer of another tribe, and when the friendly Boylya Gadak by his peculiar signs discovers which tribe is to blame the lex talionis is enforced, and the friends watch, wait, and kill a native of the accused tribe. A female is often the sufferer by these laws. Other crimes may be compounded by the culprit permitting all who consider themselves aggrieved to throw spears at him, or by allowing spears to be thrust through parts of his body—the thigh, calf, or under the arm.
No effort is made to heal the wounds thus made. Probably because of their abstemious life (they use no stimulating beverages), wounds which would quickly cause the death of Englishmen give them little concern, and heal with remarkable rapidity. On one occasion, in Perth, at a native fray, "a native man received a wound in that portion of his frame which is only presented to enemies when in the act of flight, and the spear, which was barbed, remained sticking in the wound; a gentleman who was standing by watching the fray, regarded the man with looks of pity and commiseration, which, the native perceiving, came up to him, holding the spear (still in the wound) in one hand, and turning round so as to expose the injury he had received, said, in the most moving terms, 'Poor fellow, sixpence give it um.'"
Natives are so severely wounded at some of these frays that their limbs become helpless, and the native doctor has been known to amputate the member with a sharp stone. That they make some efforts to alleviate pain was observed by Dr. Bartlett, who, in his work on New Holland, states that certain tribes which suffer from severe pains in the head resort to the taking of blood from the temples. They also shampoo to remove rheumatism from the head, and apply plasters made by burning certain herbs to the affected parts. They have numerous other methods for curing disorders, some of which are very effective. To a piece of crystal, called by them teyl, they ascribe healing properties.
It would not be expected that a race possessing such limited intelligence, living so primitive an existence and knowing nothing of letters, would exhibit even a faint conception of artistic representation in colours. But, however indifferent the result may be, on basaltic rocks, on the faces of caves, and on bark huts, their paintings have been seen, while the carvings on their weapons at times show admirable ingenuity. When Grey was in North-Western Australia in 1837 he observed on the Upper Glenelg many specimens of paintings, which were sufficiently meritorious as to cause him to speculate whether the aboriginal himself could have done them, or whether some other race of men once inhabited these lands. The first evidence of talent in this direction seen by him were drawings, scratched on basaltic rocks, of human heads, hands, and other parts of the body. Further on in the environs of the Glenelg were remarkable paintings in caves. One figure represented a head and face two feet in length, and face 17 inches wide, projected from which was the body, 2 feet 6 inches from the bottom of the face to the navel. Red bright rays suggestive of the sun encircled the head; inside this was a circle of brilliant red with coped lines of white. The face was painted in vivid white, and coal-black eyes were rounded with yellow lines. The whole complement was warranted to startle the discoverer as he peered into the dim cave. On the left-hand wall of the same cave were four heads joined together, finished in deep bright blue, red, and yellow colours, and all placed so as to appear looking on the single figure. There was also an ellipse painting, 3 feet long, 1 foot 10 inches broad. The outside line of the ellipse was done in blue, and the body in yellow dotted with red lines Across the figure were two transverse lines of blue. In a portion of the ellipse a kangaroo was represented as in the act of feeding, and one spear-head seemed to be flying towards the marsupial, and another away from it. Grey conjectured that this picture was a sort of native charm, to ascertain the luck of the enquirer in killing game. Altogether there were about 50 or 60 drawings and paintings in the cave. In another cave the profile of a human face and head was cut into the sandstone rock and appeared very antique, and showed good workmanship, except for the ear being wrongly placed. In still another cave some distance away was painted the figure of a man 10 feet 6 inches long, clothed from the chin to the wrists and ankles in a red garment. Bandages encircled the face and head, and in the outer bandage was a series of marks
