Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/91

 MILLIN. 29 for the thief. They saw a man come down to the pond, and begin getting out fish. They made a dash at him, he ran, and one of them threw a barbed spear at him, which stuck in his leg, and stopped him. Pulling out the plongge they stunned him with it, and then operated on him in the usual manner with that instrument. After extracting the spear, probably by passing its whole length through the limb, they left him lying senseless on the lake shore. The nest morning they found that he had gone away. The belief in sorcery makes the Narrinyeri, as a people, less bloodthirsty than they otherwise would be; for instead of exacting sanguinary vengeance for any injury, they are generally content to use the more secret means of revenge, which ngadhungi or millin affords. And I am certain, from my own observation, that so strong is their conviction of the deadly power of the latter, that any of them who became aware of its having been used upon them, would give themselves up to despair. This is especially true of the women. On the other hand, although their belief in sorcery renders them less bloodthirsty, yet it has the baneful effect of making them careless of the natural causes of disease. They do not seem to recognise cold, or repletion, or unwholesome food, or contagion, as causes of sickness; and are not careful to use precautions for its prevention. It is enough for them to believe that ngadhungi has been burnt, or millin practised. And in them they find a sufficient cause for every disease, and what would render all precaution useless. The Narrinyeri abhor the horrible practice of the upper river tribes of taking out the kidney fat of their living enemies. SECTION III. NEILYERI, OR THE POISON REVENGE. There is a horrid method of seeking revenge prevalent amongst the Narrinyeri, which is not witchcraft, but more deadly in its nature. It was introduced about sixteen years ago from the Upper Murray, and has no doubt been the means whereby