the front of which arose a plume of white feathers. A short cloak of opossum skin was drawn tight round his body with one hand, and with the other he grasped his boomerangs and waddy. At another spot he saw two natives with hideous countenances, and savagely painted with crimson-red on the abdomen and right shoulder, the nose and cheek-bones were also gules, and some blazing spots were daubed like drops of gore on the brow. The most ferocious wore round his brow the usual band newly whitened.[1]
Some were seen by the same explorer with the nose and brow painted with yellow-ochre; and a boy, led by a man, was so dressed with green boughs that only his head and legs remained uncovered. Emu feathers were mixed with the wild locks of his hair, and he presented altogether a strange spectacle. On the Darling, at a native dance, the men were hideously painted, so as to resemble skeletons.
As far as I have been able to learn, yellow is most commonly used for purposes of decoration in the north and north-eastern parts of Australia.
Mr. Samuel Gason gives the following list of ornaments worn by the Dieyerie tribe:—
| Kultrakultra | Necklace made of reeds, strung on woven hair, and suspended round the neck. |
| Yinka | A string of human hair, ordinarily three hundred yards in length, and wound round the waist. This ornament is greatly prized, owing to the difficulty of procuring the material of which it is made. |
| Mundamunda | A string made from the native cotton-tree, about two or three hundred yards long; this is worn round the waist, and adorned with variously-colored strings wound round at right-angles. These are worn by the women, and are very neatly made. |
| Kootcha | Bunch of hawk's, crow's, or eagle's feathers, neatly tied with the sinews of the emu or wallaby, and cured in hot ashes. This is worn either when fighting or dancing, and also used as a fan. |
| Wurtawurta | A bunch of the black feathers of the emu, tied together with the sinews of the same bird, worn in the Yinka (girdle) near the waist. |
| Chanpoo | A band about six inches long, and two inches broad, made from the stems of the cotton-bush, painted white, and worn round the forehead. |
| Koorie | A large mussel-shell pierced with a hole, and attached to the end of the beard or suspended from the neck. Also used in circumcision. |
| Oonamunda | About ten feet of string, made from the native cotton-bush, and worn round the arm. |
- ↑ Eastern Australia, by Major T. L. Mitchell.
