Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 26, 1915.djvu/100

 90 placed, and, after making sure no one was about, proceeded to try and secure the bags, but they were tied on to her body with so many knots that she lost patience and taking a saw she cut off the old woman's leg. This revived the supposed corpse, who cried in a hollow voice, "Give me my leg." The daughter-in-law was so horrified at this manifestation that she fell back lifeless herself.

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Muldarbi.—The object of the propitiatory rites practised by the natives of this part of Australia is to ward off the anger of Muldarbi, the evil spirit. Only men take part in these ceremonies, while the women and children conceal themselves and hide their faces as far as possible. The full moon is the time selected for those rites.

Black Magic.—When a party of Blacks are eating, and particularly if the meal consists of teal, the greatest care is taken to burn all the bones to ashes. If an enemy were to secure a bone the person who had eaten a teal would fall completely into his power. To make such a bone capable of doing injury to another person it must be well smeared with the fat of a corpse. It must then be thrust into a hollow kangaroo bone lubricated in the same way, and the ends of the bone in which it is enclosed must be carefully plugged with resin obtained from the gum tree. When the victim's enemy wishes to work the charm he must place the magic bone in an upright position close to a fire. As the fat in the bone begins to melt the strength of the victim wastes away, and unless it be removed from the neighbourhood of the fire the man attacked will rapidly weaken and eventually perish. If it is removed before dangerous symptoms begin to occur he will gradually recover. For such magical rites the fat round the kidneys of a corpse is preferred. The greatest secrecy is used in the performance of this rite, and a stranger finds it very difficult to obtain information about it; in fact, all questions are usually met with a denial that such rites are performed, and an outsider must