The late Mr. Thomas[1] has given an account of this strange malady and the effects of it as observed in the case of a Goulburn black, who was attacked by the spirit of a wild black while on a hunting expedition. The man said that he believed his kidney-fat had been taken away from him. He became, according to his own account, very weak, and was scarcely able to crawl back to the encampment where his friends were. He began to tell his story as soon as he had seated himself near his miam. All the men assembled and sat down beside him. His brother and a friend supported him in their arms, as he became rapidly very weak, and they kept his head raised. A dead silence fell on the assembly. The women took the dogs in charge, and muffled them in their rugs. When Mr. Thomas, at this stage, approached the encampment, he saw only a few glimmering lights on the ground. There was no sound to be heard, where, under ordinary circumstances, mirthful voices, the crackling of branches, the barking of dogs, and all the other sounds of a great encampment would have met his ear. An old black named Kollorlook having noticed the arrival of Mr. Thomas at a spot beyond the creek on which was the encampment, crossed it, and approached Mr. Thomas, and warned him against visiting the miams at a time when a man had had Marm-bu-la taken from him by a wild black. Mr. Thomas's own servants had been prevented from crossing the creek, and it was everywhere evident that a solemn and serious business was being transacted by the natives. When Mr. Thomas insisted on crossing the creek, Kollorlook told him that he must not speak, that he must tread lightly—that there must be no crackling of branches nor any unseemly noise made. Mr. Thomas complied with these injunctions, and, on reaching the camp, found the blacks seated in circles around the sick and, as they believed, dying man—the oldest men forming an inner circle, the next in age an outer circle, and the young men a third. A small fire, formed of smouldering bark, but at which no flame was permitted to rise, was made to the right of and about three yards from the sick man; and at a distance of about two hundred yards in the direction of the spot where he had lost his fat there were placed at short distances apart smouldering pieces of bark, which looked like huge fire-flies on the ground. One man attended to these pieces of bark, kept the fire alive, but at the same time prevented any of them from bursting into flame.
Malcolm, a wizard—a most learned doctor—who believed he could fly and cut the air as well as any eagle, now commenced his labors. He disappeared in the darkness; boughs cracked and rustled as he took his supposed flight through the trees towards the sky. Malcolm's voice was heard. "Goo-goo-goo" was the sound heard in the still night, and the men holding the body responded "Goo-goo-goo." Malcolm could not at once find the wild black who had taken the kidney-fat, and he was at last compelled to take what he made the blacks believe was a lengthened flight. He was absent about three-quarters of an hour. When, by the rustling of branches, Malcolm's return was announced, the old men seated near the sick person cried "Goo-goo wandududuk mo-thur ma-lar-voit marm-bu-la woo-re-mup"—each syllable being pronounced slowly,
- ↑ The late Wm. Thomas, Esq., MS., 26th August 1840.
