Page:Native Tribes of South-East Australia.djvu/717

XI sister's son, or sister's daughter's son (Kanil), or a similar near relative of the sender.

In the tribes about Maryborough (Queensland), when it has been decided to hold a Dora (initiation ceremonies), the old man at whose instance they are to be held calls for a party to carry the message. This consists of from six to ten men, under the guidance of one or two old men, who know the country to which they are to go. They travel secretly, not being protected by their office, and only announce their arrival at a camp when so near that a signal made by striking two boomerangs together can be heard. This signal is immediately understood, and the old men go out and receive them. For the time they are exempted from any party feuds. They carry with them on their return journey only fire-stick, tomahawk, boomerang, spear, and shield, but no rugs or coverings.

A messenger is chosen by the Wakelbura who has a number of friends in the tribe to which he is sent, or which he is instructed to bring back with him. Should such a messenger be injured or killed in a quarrel, in which he was not the aggressor, his tribe would in turn injure or kill the man who did it. This vengeance would be carried out by the messenger's father's and mother's brothers. If the injury was such as to form the subject of a set fight, the weapons would be knives, which were in the olden time of stone, but latterly of part of a shear blade or butcher's knife fixed with a handle.

Messengers are sent by the Buntamurra to call other tribes to fight or for other purposes, and message-sticks are used for the purpose.

The use of message-sticks appears to have been common in the tribes inhabiting the country through which the Darling River flows. The following particulars relate to the tribes of the Itchumundi nation.