sinews. The whole is neatly wrought, and the feathers are so arranged as to hang gracefully, even when the cord is twisted.[1]
The kangaroo bag, carried by the males, sheltered them from storms at times, and therefore may be described here. The large kangaroo bag, Bool-la-min-in or Moo-gro-moo-gro, is used and carried by the males only. When not engaged in hunting, the Aboriginal keeps his tools and implements in this bag, his Leange-walert, teeth of animals, mussel-shells, bits of quartz and black basalt, &c., &c. When engaged in hunting, he starts in the morning with the bag almost empty. It contains only his tomahawk, waddy, and wonguim; and all the game he secures during the day is put into the bag. If successful, he has a heavy load to carry back to his miam, the bag itself not being very light. The bag is made of the skin of the kangaroo, which is taken from off the animal with the greatest care, cleaned with a basalt-chip and mussel-shell, and stretched on pegs and dried in the sun. The ends are brought together and tied with strings made of grass, and a grass rope is attached to the ends, so as to enable him to sling the bag over his shoulder. The kangaroo-skin bag is now rarely seen south of the River Murray.
Mr. John Green says the full dress of an Aboriginal man, when prepared for the dance in the corrobboree, was as follows:—Around the head and crossing the forehead a piece of the skin of the ringtail opossum was worn, the ornament being called by them Jerr-nging; a feather of the tail of the lyre-bird was inserted between the band and the forehead (named Kan-kano), and around the neck and the biceps of each arm were worn ornaments made of reeds, like necklaces (Tarr-goorrn). Suspended from the loins by a cord, and hanging in front, was a strip of opossum skin (Barran-jeep). Each ankle was decorated with small boughs (Jerrang), and in the hands were held two sticks (Nanalk) for beating time. The body was painted with white clay. The double line of horizontal stripes on the chest was named Bikamnop, and the straight lines from the cord around the loins to the ankles were called Beek-jerrang.
The ornaments worn by a female of the Yarra tribe were few and simple. In the septum of the nose was inserted a piece of the bone of the leg of a kangaroo, called Ellejerr; around the neck was worn a very long reed-necklace (Tarr-goorrn), and around the loins was fastened the usual apron made of emu feathers and sinews, called Jerr-barr-ning (Til-bur-nin).
The Rev. Mr. Bulmer has given me a description of the ornaments which were worn by the natives of Gippsland in the olden time. The natives, he says, were fond of ornaments of their own manufacture, and, not able to decorate themselves with articles made of gold, silver, or other metals, or with precious stones, they strove to make their appearance agreeable by using such adornments as the materials within their reach enabled them to fashion. Round the forehead (Nern) the males wore a piece of network, made of the fibre obtained from the bark of a small shrub which grows plentifully near Lake Tyers. The length of the band was from nine inches to one foot, and the breadth about two
- ↑ The ancient Egyptians used the Til-bur-nin. Young girls wore "a girdle, or rope, of twisted hair, leather, or other materials, decorated with shells, round the hips."—The Ancient Egyptians, Wilkinson, vol. II., p. 335.
