Page:Native Tribes of South-East Australia.djvu/405

VII Their method of procedure is that common in savage tribes, and which has been so often described that it may be dismissed in a few words, being, in perhaps the majority of cases, a cure effected by rubbing, pressing or sucking the affected part, possibly accompanied by an incantation or song, and the exhibition of some foreign body, extracted therefrom, as the cause of the evil. Or the evil magic may be sucked out as a mouthful of wind and blown away, or got rid of by pinching and squeezing to allay the pain. In some cases the "poison," as they now call it in their "pidgin English," is supposed to be extracted through a string, or a stick, by the doctor from the patient, who then spits it out in the form of blood. A few instances may be given from various tribes, which will show the similarity in the curative practice, and its range in the quarter of Australia with which I am now dealing.

Some years ago a party of Brajerak from Manero and some Biduelli came down into Gippsland to see me, and were friendly with the Kurnai. The two Headmen of the former were the before-mentioned Yibai-malian and Mragula. After they left on their return home, one of the Kurnai, in speaking of them said, that Yibai was a most powerful Mulla-mullung, or medicine-man, and he explained that during their visit his brother had become very ill, and Mragula had extracted from his body something like a glass marble which Yibai-malian had put into him. It was perhaps as well for Yibai that the patient recovered, otherwise he would have been held answerable for his death.

As an instance of the methods used by the Kurnai, I give the practice of Tankli the son of Bunjil-bataluk. His method of cure was to stroke the affected part with his hand till, as he said, he could "feel the thing under the skin." Then, covering the place with a piece of some fabric, he drew it together with one hand, and unfolding it he exhibited a piece of quartz, bone, bark, or charcoal, even on one occasion a glass marble as the cause of the disease. The use of the fabric was quite evident to any one but a blackfellow.