Page:Native Tribes of South-East Australia.djvu/737

XI of the party. New huts are made, seeds of the season are stored up for fathers, brothers, husbands, and friends.

When such a party returned, its members were full of strange stories of battles they had fought, of tribes they had seen, men having toes behind their feet as well as in front, and all kinds of wild and extravagant reports.

The Pitcheri, though brought from so great a distance and obtained under such difficulties, is all gone after a few months, being bartered away to more southern tribes.

Mr. Gason informed me that when the Dieri expedition returned, he used to obtain as much as six bags, weighing each three pounds, for one shirt. As soon as the Pitcheri became scarce, the leading men would come to him, bringing all kinds of weapons as presents for a small quantity, begging him to give them pitcheri waka yinkeami," that is, "give one little (chew of) Pitcheri."

I found the use of Pitcheri very common among the Yantruwunta. Frequently a quid of it was offered to me fresh from the mouth of a friendly blackfellow, and in an unchewed state I obtained it in small bags made of grass twine and human hair. The Yantruwunta also sent out a similar party for Pitcheri, and they told me that they travelled about ten days' journey for it, pointing to the north-west as the direction. This would give a distance of from one hundred and fifty to two hundred miles, and roughly agrees with the position of what is called the Pitcheri country. The Yantruwunta mixed the Pitcheri, before use, with the dried leaves of a bush called by them Wirha, which grows plentifully on the sandhills in their country, and which they dry in hot ashes for use. I found the use of Pitcheri to extend to the tribes of the Barrier Ranges, thus indicating an extended system of barter.

In July or August in each year the Dieri sent out an expedition southwards to procure red ochre. This was always regarded as being a perilous journey, with many dangers and privations. It seems to have been one of the most important duties of the Blanch-water division of the tribe to see to this matter. Some seventy to eighty of