Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/86

 24 NGADHUNGI. disease-maker was ill himself he felt sure that someone must be burning his nahak." I have abridged the description on account of its length; but the foregoing is the part most to my purpose. Now, the Narrinyeri of this colony have a similar practice to this nahak-burning prevalent among the Tannese, and their whole community is influenced by disease-makers. This kind of sorcery, by which disease is supposed to be produced, is called ngadhungi. It is practised in the following manner:  Every adult blackfellow is constantly on the look-out for bones of ducks, swans, or other birds, or of the fish called ponde, the flesh of which has been eaten by anybody. Of these he constructs his charms. All the natives, therefore, are careful to burn the bones of the animals which they eat, so as to prevent their enemies from getting hold of them; but, in spite of this precaution, such bones are commonly obtained by disease-makers who want them. When a man has obtained a bonefor instance, the leg bone of a duckhe supposes that he possesses the power of life and death over the man, woman, or child who ate its flesh. The bone is prepared by being scraped into something like a skewer; a small round lump is then made by mixing a little fish oil and red ochre into a paste, and enclosing in it the eye of a Murray cod and a small piece of the flesh of a dead human body. This lump is stuck on the top of the bone and a covering tied over it, and it is put in the bosom of a corpse in order that it may derive deadly potency by contact with corruption. After it has remained there for some time it is considered fit for use, and is put away until its assistance is required. Should circumstances arise calculated to excite the resentment of the disease-maker towards the person who ate the flesh of the animal from which the bone was taken, he immediately sticks the bone in the ground near the fire, so that the lump aforesaid may melt away gradually, firmly believing that as it dissolves it will produce disease in the person for whom it was designed, however distant he may be. The entire melting and dropping off of the lump is supposed to cause death.