Page:Dawson - Australian aborigines (1900).djvu/71

Rh As a mark of affection, locks of hair are exchanged by friends, and are worn round the neck, tied to the necklace. Should one of these be lost, most diligent search is made for it, as it is considered very unlucky to lose or give away a keepsake. If it be not found, the person who holds possession of the other lock of hair is asked to undo the exchange by returning it. If this were not done, the loser of the lock would die. So strong is this belief, that people in such circumstances often fall into bad health, and sometimes actually die.

The aborigines had among them sorcerers and doctors, whom they believed to possess supernatural powers. In the Kolor tribe there was a sorceress well known in the Western district under the name of White Lady, who was the widow of the chief, and whose supernatural influence was much dreaded by all. As an emblem of her power, she had a long staff resembling a vaulting pole, made of very heavy wood, and painted red. This pole, which she said was given to her by the spirits, was carried before her by a 'strong man' when she visited her friends or attended a meeting. On occasions of ceremony, it was dressed up with feathers of various colours, and surmounted by a bunch of the webs of the wing feathers of the white cockatoo. The pole-bearer, whose name was Weereen Kuuneetch, acted also as her servant. After ushering her to the meeting, he hid the pole at a short distance from the camp, while singing and amusements were going on, as it was too sacred to be exposed to common inspection. At bedtime he brought it into the circle by her direction, and held it upright before the fire, as a signal of retirement for the night. At her death the pole was carried off by the spirits, and no one has seen it since.

In order to support her pretensions to supernatural power, she would, on some moonlight night, leave the camp with an empty bag made of netted bark cord, and return with it full of snakes. These she said were spirits. No one, therefore, dare go near them or look at them. She described one as pure white, another black; the rest were young ones. She emptied the bag near the fire and made them crawl around it, by pointing with a long stick, and speaking to them. On another occasion, having left the camp for awhile on a moonlight night, she pretended, on her return, that she had been to the moon; and, in proof of her visit, produced a tail of a lunar kangaroo—an old fur boa which she had got from the whites. Besides this boa she had a number of charms round her neck, and, in her bag portions of the bones of animals, beads, pieces of crockery, bits of brass and iron, and strangely-shaped stones, each having its particular spell, and capable of producing good or evil, as suited her interests. This clever old witch