Page:Native Tribes of South-East Australia.djvu/397

VII was done, and at a signal from the Wirriki the man was speared.

The Mukjarawaint had a similar belief as to the fat-taking by medicine-men. The account given to me was almost identical with that of the Wotjobaluk, the only difference being that, unless the Bangal takes precautions, the victim will follow him when he regains his senses. He therefore hides till he sees him rise and stagger towards him, when he turns him away homewards, by throwing some earth at him. The time to elapse before the victim dies is fixed by the Bangal walking along the nearest fallen tree-trunk. Its length in strides fixes the number of days he has to live. The victim goes home, feels ill, does not know what ails him, but just before he dies dreams of the man or men who have taken his fat, and so is able to tell his friends, who forthwith make up an avenging party.

This belief in a sort of clairvoyance just before death seems to be very general among the aborigines. I have found it with the Wiradjuri, where a man, just before his death, said to his friends, who were standing round him, "Go on one side so that I may be able to see who it is who has caught me."

It also occurred in Gippsland, where a few years ago one of the Kurnai died from the effects of drinking and exposure. When so near death that he was lying speechless in his camp, his great friend, the before-mentioned Tankowillin, besought him earnestly to tell him who it was who had caused his death, and was inconsolable because the sick man died without being able to do so.

In speaking of the powers of the Gommeras with a number of the old men after the ceremonies in the Yuin tribe, they all agreed that they could throw Joïas at people, invisibly—"like the wind," as they said. A victim could not therefore know when he was hurt, but a man who was so killed might be able to tell his friends, before he died, who it was who had hurt him. But often some one was able to say in such a case, "I saw so-and-so going behind him throwing Joïas. The Gommera could tell the Yuin who had "caught" a deceased man. So, if they knew