I have often watched the women when engaged in this work. They use the stone adroitly, turning it from time to time in such a manner as to fix the bottom of the basket in the desired position while they weave a part of the side. To signify the beginning of the basket, they use the word Moom-newk, which is literally Moom, the bottom, and newk, the basket begun.
For Ruddle.
A piece of trap rock, named Boo-boorrn by the natives of the Murray, is put in the fire and kept there until it becomes red-hot. When taken out, the native scrapes from the surface a red powder, with which he makes a paint to color his shields and other weapons, to dye his rug, and, if necessary, to ornament his person. The native name of the stone is, on the Lower Murray, Noor-in-yoo-rook, and the name of the ruddle obtained from it is the same.
Pigments of various kinds were used by the natives, the character and composition of which are described in another place.
Bulk.
A stone—believed by the natives to possess extraordinary powers, and held in great estimation by the sorcerers—was presented to me by Mr. A. W. Howitt, who obtained it from an old man in Gippsland. It is egg-shaped, about four inches in length, and two and a half inches in breadth. It is thickly covered with oxyd of iron, and it is impossible to say, without breaking it, what its mineral composition is; but on clearing one small part of the thick coating of red oxyd, it presented an appearance like that of a trap rock. It must have had given to it the form which it now shows many, many years ago, and may indeed have been a treasure in the tribe to which the old man belonged before Australia was known to Europeans. The name of the stone is Bulk, and with it and other stones the priests work enchantment. It weighs twenty-seven and a half ounces.
Stones of this character are described by Grey. He says:—
"The natives of South-Western Australia likewise pay a respect, almost amounting to veneration, to shining stones or pieces of crystal, which they call Teyl. None but the sorcerers or priests are allowed to touch these, and no bribe can induce an unqualified native to lay his hand on them. The accordance of this word in sound and signification with the Baetyli mentioned in the following extract from Burder's Oriental Customs (vol. I., p. 16) is remarkable:—
"'And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillow, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it, and he called the name of that place Be-thel.—Genesis XXVIII., 18. From this conduct of Jacob and this Hebrew appellation, the learned Bochart, with great ingenuity and reason, insists that the name and veneration of the sacred stones called Baetyli, so celebrated in all Pagan antiquity,
