Page:Notes on the Aborigines of New South Wales.djvu/39

Rh Rev. Donald Mackillop reports that on the Daly River, Northern Territory, the souls of children are supposed to be shut up in certain hills, scattered over the country, and are given out when an infant is to be born. Superstitions substantially the same in character as those referred to, in various forms to suit surrounding circumstances, have been observed in every part of Australia where investigations have been made.

Near the north-west extremity of the town of Brewarrina, at a bend in the Darling River, there is a low bar of desert sandstone across the channel, forming a natural weir or dam when the river is low. As soon as the water in the river rises to the level of the rocky bar it flows over, and forms a series of shallow rapids for about a quarter of a mile, in which distance it is said to fall 11 feet.

In examining the channel of the river at the site of the rapids, we find evidence of the sandstone outcrop at this spot having been much wider and higher in ancient times than at present. All the way along the southern bank of the river, from the present bar downward, for about 15 chains, and at a few places on the opposite bank, the desert sandstone is exposed. Here and there on the river floor, within the same distance, isolated masses of this rock, which have withstood the erosion of flood-waters, are still standing in their original position.

From these indications we may safely infer that the river, in the course of a long period, has cut its way through about 15 chains of the desert sandstone—that is, from about the point D on the plan upward to the existing bar. During the progress of cutting out the river channel, fragments of rock of various dimensions were worn off and broken up by the water, and formed into boulders of different sizes.

I shall endeavour to describe the fish-traps and their construction. The river-floor at this point consists of immense numbers of loose stones, ranging from a few pounds to a hundredweight, with others of greater dimensions. The aboriginal builders collected large quantities of these stones and erected walls, in the way many of our farmers about Kiama used to build stone dykes or fences around their farms. These walls were erected in a substantial manner, being wider at the base, where also the larger stones were used, and tapering upward to the top. The stones were merely laid in position, without mortar or dressing of any kind, forming a structure sufficiently strong to resist the force of the current. In such level country the flood has little impetus. The large stones used in the foundation or base of the wall were rolled into position, whilst the smaller ones were carried by the builders. Areas were enclosed in this manner, varying in dimensions from that of a small pond almost down to the size of a plunge bath, the walls of one enclosure being common to those around it, forming a labyrinth of inextricable windings. These enclosures were continued right across the channel from bank to bank, and occupied all the suitable portions of the river-floor for about a quarter of a mile along its course. Some of the pens or traps were long and narrow, others nearly circular, whilst others were irregular in shape, according to the formation of the bed of the river and the facilities for obtaining the heavy building material close at hand.

Each division of the tribe, and the families composing it, had their own allotted portion of the fishing grounds, and every pen or trap had a name by which it was known and spoken of among the people.