through a cord tied to the patient, and up which it was sucked, as the Turrbal believed, into his mouth, and thence produced as the cause. For consumption, a rope made of opossum fur was tied round the patient's body; a woman seated herself three or four feet from him with a pot of water between her legs and the end of the hair rope in her hands. She dipped this end in the water and rubbed her lips and gums with it until they bled. The patient believed that the blood came from his body, and is said to have been relieved by the procedure.[1]
The Chepara believe in an evil being called Wulle, who was believed to influence, or to aid, the medicine-men in killing people. If a man died in spite of the medicine-man, they said it was Wulle who killed him. The medicine-man is called Ya-gul-kubba, and turns the patient about, presses his body all over, pinches him, and also anoints his body with saliva, all the time muttering incantations in a low tone of voice, finally producing some object, usually a piece of stone.[2]
In the Kaiabara tribe a black with a headache would have a rope or cord tied tightly round the head, and be bled with a shell or flint, the head being beaten with a small stick to cause the blood to flow freely. A pain in the back would be cured by another man standing on the back of the patient. Certain herbs, bruised and soaked in water, are used as medicine, also the gum from the Blood-wood tree dissolved in water. An aching tooth is pulled out with a string if a back one; if an incisor, it is knocked out with a stone, a stick being used as a chisel. They dress sores with mud, or down from a duck or hawk.
The medicine-men, in addition to the usual magical practices which have been described, also administered gum dissolved in water.[3]
In the Dalebura tribe it was common to find people with a circular scar round the leg just below the knee and above the calf, showing that the person had been bitten on the leg by a venomous snake. The operation was thus described by an eye-witness: "A woman, bitten by a snake, called to her husband, who upon seeing the reptile got a
