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  stones known as kundīr and minkom, when imagined to be residing in the

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It was carried on with much patience and seriousness, and as medicine
to be efficacious must needs be nasty, when the opertion is over,
the boy drinks the potion in the vessel. I was scowled at for re-
garding the operation with amused credulity.
Sickness, not the obvious result of accident, was always attrib-
uted to sorcery. The ordinary belief of the blackfellow who had
mysteriously become sick was that some enemy, from a place of conceal-
ment, had launched a magic stone at him, which had become embedded in
his body. It was the business of the sorcerer, by his hocus-pocus
tricks, to extract the stone or whatever other foreign body was causing
the pain. As if on the principle that like cures like, a magic stone
was sometimes applied to the affected part ot[sic] allay the pain. The
stones known as kundīr and minkom, when imagined to be residing in the
sorcerer's own body, were assumed causes of exceptional vitality, but
they could be utilised by him as lethal weapons.
Ginggil ginggil, a kind of mange contracted from the dogs, was
very prevalent. The only treatment applied was pressing the pimples of
the rash with a dull-pointed stick a few inches in length. This oper-
ation seemed to be much enjoyed - at least it was often practised, and
was carried out with apparent zest, the body being picked all over very
methodically.
After death there was usually a cannibal feast, and profound
mourning was invariably engaged in nightly by the whole camp and pro-
longed for several weeks. The skin was sometimes taken off, and parts
like the knee-caps and the toes were also removed. Bones of the arms,
legs and head would be fractured to obtain pieces convenient for
carrying. These relics would be treasured by relatives for five or six
years. The women would carry them about with them and would store them
in the cosiest corner of the camp.
There were different methods of disposing of the dead. One mode
was to erect a stage for the body on a tree, or to construct one of
saplings and bark resting on upright forks. On such stages the body
was left until completely desiccated, when the bones would be depos-
ited in a hollow tree. After contact with Europeans the common method
was interment in the ground. One grave I knew was marked by small
logs being carefully arranged on the surface, which were said to repres-
ent the brothers of the deceased, and the position of the logs was intend-
ed to point out where they lived.
The young folk were prohibited from partaking of human flesh.
The distinction as to who should partake, would suggest that other
motives than the mere appeasing of appetite conduced to uphold
cannibalism.
The strip of skin taken from the thigh was sometimes wrapped
round a spear and employed as a magical indicator to discover the
person who had by sorcery or other cause, been the agent of death.
The duration of mourning was about six weeks. At night mourners
could be seen flitting about the camp carrying glowing torches, for
the purpose, it was said, of driving off the spirits. I have seen the
gleam of the torches, but as the explanation of their use was given
me by whites it may not be reliable.
Every night a general, loud wailing was sustained for hours, and
was accompanied by personal laceration with sharp flints or other
cutting instruments. The men would be content with a few incisions
on the back of the head, but the women would gash themselves from
head to foot and allow the blood to dry upon the skin.
The cry of the mourners was: -
"Ngata! ngata! mīmin! mīmin!
Wuthung nganyunggai balomathi gindī!"
"Brother my is dead oh dear!"
(over)