The Aborigines of Victoria and Riverina/Chapter 20
CHAPTER XX.
CONCERNING ABORIGINAL MAGICIANS AND THEIR MAGIC, AS APPLIED TO CURATIVE PURPOSES IN SICKNESS; TOGETHER WITH THE POWER OF INFLICTING SICKNESS ON WHOMSOEVER THEY PLEASE; OF THE NGALLOW WATTOWS (POSTMEN) AND THE PURPOSES WHICH OCCUPY MOST PART OF THEIR EXISTENCE.
In every aboriginal tribe there are usually one or two members who are esteemed learned beyond their fellows; they are termed Bangals (Doctors or Magicians) and are supposed to be endowed with powers far beyond the finite grasp of humanity in general; they are therefore looked upon by the rest of their respective tribes with considerable awe, and no native would knowingly offend one of them, as every such offence would be sure to bring condign punishment on him who had offended.
The functions of these Bangals are various, amongst which bleeding and other surgical operations are not the least As they elect to cure every ill to which aboriginal flesh is heir, from a simple headache induced by overfeeding, up to the severest form of pulmonary consumption, they are seldom without a fair share of patients to attend to; the patients have the most perfect faith in their ministrations, consequently they are as passive and ductile in their hands as so much well-wrought glazier's putty; of course this implicit belief tends in a great measure towards a cure, whatever may be the ailment.
When a patient recovers the wise Bangal receives boundless credit, which he accepts with the becoming grace of a duly qualified professor, who is getting no more than his just meed. But, on the other hand, should grim death steal in, and snatch the poor victim from under the very eyes of the Bangal he gets no blame, as the death is certain to be attributed to the malign influence of magic practised by some Bukeen[1] tribe to that end, of which he is ignorant, therefore unable effectually to cope with. On these occasions, however, he tells the assembled tribe that he will visit Konikatnie (water-spirit) down in the deep waters of the lake, or river, and from that spirit learn from whence the magic came which killed their brother, and then they can take ample and swift vengeance on the hidden foe.
When the curious ones of a tribe wish to discover that which is beyond aboriginal ken they depute the Bangal to arrive at the desired knowledge through the medium of the water-spirit. Thereupon the Bangal most mysteriously disappears from the tribe, and many days may elapse before he returns, in a manner equally mystic with that of his departure. On some of these occasions he brings the desired information; on others, again, he merely intimates that the matter sought for was not for them to pry into, therefore it had better be forgotten at once, and for good, as the Konikatnie bears but badly any opposition to his expressed wishes as rendered by the Bangal.
Of course any information he may be pleased to give at those times, as being the result of his conference with Konikatnie, is fiction pure and simple concocted by himself whilst absent from the tribe; it is necessary, however, if he should retain his power in the tribe, that he should from time to time fabricate such romances as are calculated to have that effect, and, without doubt, the ability which they possess and display in this description of literary composition is truly marvellous.
Arabian tales, of good and evil genii, are as nothing compared to the wonders related by these imposters; and the utter ignorance of the aborigines, together with their extraordinary superstitious beliefs, induces them to give perfect credence to whatever these charlatans may be pleased to advance. The manner in which they graduate for the office of Bangal is somewhat peculiar, and it requires the display of great daring, besides the possession of much moral courage on the part of a would-be candidate to carry out the programme to a successful issue. When a Bangal dies, and has been buried, a Loondthal (hut) is neatly erected over the grave, and whoever has sufficient temerity to seek the vacant office of the defunct, must go at sundown, the first night of the new moon, and place himself in the mausoleum, and thus remain until sunrise the following morning. This proceeding has to be repeated every night until the moon has waxed and waned, and if he successfully undergoes the loathsome ordeal without flinching, he is deemed to have graduated satisfactorily, and is consequently inducted forthwith to the vacant office with its train of honours, duties and privations; and of the latter he has many to contend with, more especially during the periods which he pretends are occupied visiting the Konikatnie, in his humid Loondthal. The greatest scamp in the tribe is usually the candidate who comes forward to fill the departed Bangal's office. As a rule in aboriginal physiology, vagabondism and courage generally go together, and without the latter quality in abundance, it would be virtually impossible to undergo the necessary probationary ordeal, which the office demands of its professors.
One member of every tribe is devoted solely to the office of Ngallow Wattow (postman or messenger). He can travel from tribe to tribe with impunity, whether they should be hostile to his own people, or the contrary; he is employed carrying news backwards and forwards, and it is most wonderful how rapidly anything possessing interest to the aborigines is thus disseminated.
These men also negotiate all barter and trading required by their respective tribes. At the first blush it would almost seem that the aboriginies could not have very much in the shape of goods to dispose of, but that would be an erroneous conclusion to arrive at; as the districts inhabited by the different tribes produce each their own particular class of commodities, and those alone; therefore, as the aboriginal requirements over the whole of the colony are very similar, the only manner in which many of their wants can be supplied is by means of barter. For example, the tribes inhabiting the mountainous regions have an abundance of stone suitable for making axes of; and the tribes which roam over the vast depression forming the Murray river valley have many miles of reed beds, from whence reeds are procured for making spears, and not having any stone for axes on their own territory, they procure it by exchanging reeds with the inhabitants of the stone country, where reeds stout enough for spears do not grow The same mercantile relations obtain in the matter of gums, resins, ochres, etc.
Thus a single glance will suffice to show that the Ngallow Wattows have always abundance of work cut out for them, going from tribe to tribe on trading expeditions.
In consequence of the continuous intercourse with strange tribes, the Ngallow Wattow becomes altogether more liberal in his views, and less narrow-minded, than it is natural for the general aborigine to be; he is accordingly looked up to by his fellows as a sort of oracle, or know everything, with whom it would be folly to dispute or argue.
From an aboriginal point of view, as a rule, these Ngallow Wattows are not overwise, that is to say, in the matter of stategic cunning essential to their success in the hunting up of game, necessary to their daily wants; they are mere children, in fact they are childish to the verge of imbecility; but in our opinion the very fact of this eccentricity is the reason of their persons being held sacred by tribes hostile to those to which they belong.
Every phase of insanity is venerated by the natives, be it mild or violent, as they consider those so afflicted to be under the special protection of Ngoudmout (Good Spirit), therefore to hurt or otherwise ill-treat one so afflicted would be certain to bring down the vengeance of the Good Spirit upon all concerned.
The aborigines are more peculiar in their tastes than people of a more refined status, inasmuch as they are actually envious of a fellow native who becomes mad; envious of the marked good treatment which he receives on all hands, and of the high consideration in which he is held; consequently madness is very frequently simulated, and sometimes with so much success that months will oftentimes elapse ere the imposture is discovered; but when the madness is found to be only counterfeited then woe betide the pretender from thenceforward; his life then has but small pleasure in it, and it is only wonderful that the amount of ridicule and obloquy which is continually cast upon him does not make him in reality that which he has feigned.
The Ngallow Wattows are always bachelors, consequently have to carry all their own belongings from camp to camp, as well as erect their own solitary Loondthals, bring wood and water, and, in short, do everything which a native having a Lyoor never thinks of doing. Physically these men are small in stature, as a rule, and in flesh spare almost to attenuation; they excel, however, all the other tribal members in physical endurance, especially as regards the powers of making long trying journeys on very short commons; their continual trampings from tribe to tribe keeps them in a state of perpetual training, as it were, and the frequent scarcity of food which they encounter on their weary travels has a tendency to keep down flesh, and makes long fasting somewhat bearable.
The Bangals and Ngallow Wattows in general lead very solitary lives as compared with their fellows, seldom mingling in corroberie dances, or joining in the lewd songs common at all great gatherings, deeming such diversions frivolous, and beneath the dignity of their respective offices.
The Bangals are all under the conviction that they possess the power of causing sickness, even unto death, to fall upon whomsoever they please, and the laymen of the tribes are quite certain that such is actually the case; this is, therefore, the principal cause of the awe these imposters inspire their more ignorant fellows with. They, however, never put this pretended power in practice on members of their own tribes, at least they pretend never to do so; upon the Bukeens, on the other hand, they are continually trying the potency of their magic powers.
The mode by which they carry out this fell art of theirs is extremely novel, although it has but very little of the supernatural about it, as the following will plainly show.
Should a Bangal in the course of his wanderings drop across an old encampment of Bukeens he searches about carefully for some debris (such as bones) of the food they have eaten, but should his search for bones, or some other kindred debris, be unsuccessful, as frequently happens (from the fact of its being a habit common to all the aboriginal tribes to consume by fire the bones of the game upon which they have fed before they abandon a camp) he anxiously scans the ground all round the abandoned camp for feculent excrement, and should any of the Bukeens, from laziness or other cause, have omitted to use his paddle[2] or to have used it carelessly, the vigilant Bangal pounces upon the unhidden fæces as a miser would upon a treasure. After he has secured his savoury find, he lubricates a piece of opossum skin with the kidney fat of some of his victims, and carefully wraps it round his treasure, after which yards of twine are wound round and round, each wind being what sailors term a half hitch, thus independent of the preceding one or the one which follows; if bones are found they are treated in a similar manner.
At night, when all in the camp are quiet, the Bangal carefully takes his prize from the Mocre Mocre (bag) beginning a low monotonous chant, whilst he thrusts one end of the prepared roll into the fire (the fire is small by design); during the process of gradual combustion the chant is continued, sometimes low as a weak child's wail heard a considerable distance off, and again swelling up into the sonorous tones of a strong man's agony, yet never losing its weird monotony. The chant consists of sound principally, with an occasional interjected request (always in the same tone) to Konikatnie. Should it be his wish to kill the Bukeen outright, in one night, he keeps up the chant, and pushes the burning roll forward into the glowing embers as it consumes, and when the last vestige of it has dispersed in unsavoury smoke, the life of the Bangal's victim has ceased.
Should the Bangal, however, wish to prolong the dying agonies of his foe, he merely burns a small portion of the roll nightly, chanting his incantation during the process, and should months pass before the roll is totally consumed, so long will the torture of his victim continue.
All aboriginal deaths (unless those caused by violence alone), and indeed every ailment by which they are attacked from time to time, as well, are attributed to the magical power possessed by the Bangals, and all the arguments and ridicule in creation will not cause them to alter their belief one iota.
When discussing the matter with them, and to prove the imposture of their Bangals, we have offered ourselves as subjects to be practised upon by any Bangal they might choose, telling them that it would not be necessary to complete the process, the mere fact of our being made slightly unwell would be proof to us, perfectly conclusive, that their Bangah were all they claimed them to be.
Our fair offer to them seemed so absurd they merely laughed at us, saying, "Bumbuma Wirrumpoola Ngenic (stupid ears you) too much you white fellow. Not that one Bangal belonging to you. What for you Bumbuma poorp?" (stupid head.)
- ↑ Bukeen signifies wild or savage, capable of perpetrating any description of enormity. The name is applied to all tribes with whom no intercourse is held, any stray subject of which being deemed fair game, from whence, if possible, to draw a supply of the universally coveted kidney fat.
- ↑ When an aborigine obeys a call of nature, he always carries a pointed instrument with him to turn up the ground with, so that his fecal excreta may be well hidden from the keen vision of vagaband Bangals.