Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/210

 136 OBEDIENCE TO NATIVE LAWS. enemies secretly tried to compass their deaths, they would, if sorcery failed, try other means to retaliate upon them. Two or three would go prowling about the hush at night in order to surprise some enemy or his relativesacting upon the native principle if you cannot hurt your enemy, hurt his nearest relatives. I have seen the light of such avengers of blood wandering and flickering through the scrub in the darkness; and on one occasion the station was nearly set on fire by such prowlers carelessly leaving embers amongst the dry grass. This constant seeking for revenge produces an atmosphere of suspicion amongst the natives. It is often the case that they will trust none but relatives; all others are regarded as possible enemies. This fear of revenge leads them to burn or destroy every bone and fragment of the game eaten by them, lest an enemy should get it and make sorcery with it. A blackfellow named Ponge had two little children, a boy and a girl. One day, as they were at play together, the latter, with a tomahawk, chopped off her little brother’s finger. Their father no sooner saw it than, in a paroxysm of fear and grief, he seized the amputated finger, popped it into his mouth, and swallowed it. His idea was that it was thus put away safely, and no enemy could get it and compass sorcery by means thereof against his son. The Narrinyeri, in their native state, were a law-abiding people. It is a great mistake to suppose that they herded together like the beasts, having no sort of government. The tribe was under the government of the rupulle, or chief, and the elders. The most intelligent natives assure me that the power of the chief was much greater before the colonists came here than it is now. There are certain customs and laws handed down from generation to generation, and these are strictly observed. One law is that none but native weapons shall be used in battles between natives. I never knew this law infringed. It is also the law that an unfair wound shall be punished by the tribe. I have known the chief men in the tribe yield to this law.