Page:Dawson - Australian aborigines (1900).djvu/90

 feather to the point of one of their spears, and fixes the spear upright at his door. When the attention of a chief is called to this, he transfers the spear to the middle of the camp. Two or three men come and draw their hands down it, and retire to their wuurns; no objection having been made, the chief takes the spear to the two strangers and lays it down beside them, remarking that it belongs to them, and is returned as a sign of friendship and welcome. If the friendship of their tribe is not desired, a hint is given to them to go away. Three or four young women at sunset will pretend to go for water, carrying pieces of smouldering bark hidden in their buckets. These pieces of bark they give to the strangers to make their fire on their journey home. The men immediately set off, carrying the pieces of lighted bark under their rugs till they are out of danger of pursuit.

Messengers are attached to every tribe, and are selected for their intelligence and their ability as linguists. They are employed to convey information from one tribe to another, such as the time and place of great meetings, korroboræs, marriages, and burials, and also of proposed battles; for, if one tribe intends to attack another, due notice is always honourably given. Ambuscades are proceedings adopted by civilized warriors. As the office of messenger is of very great importance, the persons filling it are considered sacred while on duty; very much as an ambassador, herald, or bearer of a flag of truce is treated among civilized nations.

To distinguish them from spies or enemies, they generally travel two together, and they are painted in accordance with the nature of the information which they carry. When the information is about a great meeting, a korroboræ, a marriage, or a fight, their faces are painted with red and white stripes across the cheeks and nose. When the information relates to a death, their heads, faces, and hands, their arms up to the elbows, and their feet and legs up to the knees, are painted with white clay. Thus the appearance of the messengers announces the nature of their news before they come to the camp. If their appearance indicates a death, lamentation and disfigurement begin immediately. On arriving at the camp they sit down without speaking, apparently unobserved; and, after a little time, one of them delivers the message in a short speech with intoned voice.

There are also teachers attached to each tribe, whose duty is to instruct the young in the use of weapons, and in other needful information. Sometimes a messenger is also a teacher.