pretend that they know, and they not seldom describe to the members of their tribe, everything that is being done by some distant tribe. They claim the power of causing diseases—and they say that they can cure any man, how much soever he may have been hurt in battle or brought down by sickness. They are very indolent. They seldom hunt or fish, or do work of any kind. They make strange noises in the night, wander about, and seek to terrify their people. They are willing to receive gifts, and indeed live on the superstitions and fears of their less profligate relations. The men are afraid of offending them, and the women regard them as beings altogether superior to the common order of the species. They believe that the sorcerers can wound them, take their kidney-fat, cause barrenness, or kill their children. The sorcerers pretend that they are unlike other men. They cultivate tastes different from those of their tribe; they eat differently and at strange times; they sleep when others are awake; and they pretend to make long journeys when all in the camp are slumbering. By their wits and their cunning, and also by the knowledge they gain of events by keeping watch during periods when others are asleep, they preserve an ascendency over the members of the tribe; and they contrive to live comfortably on the profits of their strange practices.
The doctor, who in most cases is the principal man of the tribe, takes part in dividing the country. When a male child is born, he is supposed to have the right to designate the part of the country which shall belong to him when he arrives at maturity. Whether this division of land amongst the persons composing a tribe results in their claiming exclusive rights to any portion is doubtful. This subject is dealt with elsewhere.
The Aborigines of Gippsland, like those of all other parts of Australia, have a firm belief in the influence and power of their doctors. In every tribe the doctor has the blacks entirely in his hands, and he can do what he likes with them. The Rev. Mr. Hagenauer informs me that their wanderings and their great gatherings are ordered by the doctors. If a black is sick, the doctor is sent for. After a tedious examination, the patient is ordered to paint his face white, and the doctor sits beside him until midnight, when, according to the statements of the blacks, the doctor pulls out the substance which has caused the sickness. If the patient gets well, the doctor is complimented and rewarded, just as amongst ourselves; but if he gets worse, then Ngatya is blamed, whose influence is great.
The doctors have great power. They can command the winds and direct the course of tempests. They can make the clouds descend in rain.[1] They
- ↑ The making of rain is said to be one of the grandest ceremonies of the Cooper's Creek tribe. Mr. Samuel Gason says, "that when there is a drought or dry season, frequent in the Dieyerie country, the natives have a hard time of it. No fresh herbs, no roots, nothing but ardoo have they to subsist on. The parched earth yielding no grass, the emu, reptiles, &c., are so poor as to be nearly valueless for food; it is therefore easily perceived that to the natives rain is the supremest blessing. Believing they have the power of producing it, under the inspiration of Moora-moora, they proceed as follows:—Women, generally accompanied by their paramours (each married woman is permitted a paramour), are despatched to the various camps to assemble the natives together at a given place. After the tribe is gathered, they dig a hole, about two feet deep, twelve feet long, and from eight to ten feet broad. Over this they build a hut, by placing stiff logs about
