The expedition would be under the leadership of an old man, and his party would consist of young men who had recently been initiated. The journey was a long and arduous undertaking, and young fellows were selected in order that their strength and powers of endurance might be put to the test. When they reached to within a certain stage of the mine, the old man ordered everybody to discard any belongings he might be carrying, and, upon a given signal, the party, led by the old man, began to run towards a big hill which stood before them. Many a hurdle was in their way, but it was imperative that they kept running. Then they took the sloping ground, and presently a large boulder lay in front of them; this the young men were informed was the petrified dog which had killed the emu. Each in his turn was asked to throw a stone at it as he skipped by. Next, they came upon a group of stones which they were told represented the cursed remains of the female dog and pups. As the names of these were mentioned, each of the men again threw stones.
Fig. 18. Boomerang with a number of emu designs carved upon it, Pidunga tribe, Broome (× 1/7.) Tracing.
Suddenly the party was ordered to halt. Just ahead of them was the platform of rock upon which the sacred emu had expired. The men were requested to remain where they stood and to keep silent whilst the old fellow made for a chasm below the platform. He returned not long after, with his hands full of rich red ochre, which he rubbed over the bodies of his young attendants. Thereupon all present cut off their beards, which they had been wearing long purposely for the occasion, and walked in a body to the chasm. “The great Emu wants feathers,” they exclaimed, “we offer her the token of our manhood”; and, as they spoke, they threw the beards into the chasm below. Then each man was allowed to fill his bag with red ochre, and, placing it upon his head, he ran down the hill to the place at which he left his belongings. Nobody was allowed to look back; and should, by accident, a bag of ochre be dropped on the way, it had to be left just where it fell, and under no circumstances picked up again.
According to the Kukata, there was once an old man who had several wild dogs, which were ferocious in habit, generally, but obeyed their master. One day, when he was out hunting, he saw the track of a kangaroo which he made up his mind to follow. He had his little daughter with him, and, not thinking it advisable to take her with him into the scrub, he decided to leave her to play on a clay-pan while he followed his prey into the hills. He captured the kangaroo and returned to the clay-pan, but imagine his disgust when he found that his dogs had, during his absence, killed his child and devoured her flesh.
In his wrath, the old man chased the dogs into the hills at the point of his spears, until eventually he drove them into a cave, the entrance of which he closed with a number of large stones. The wounded dogs in their plight attacked one another and tore themselves to pieces. In consequence, their blood poured freely into the cave and soaked deeply into the rocks. Ever since, the tribe have gone to that cave to collect supplies of the “blood-stained” rock—the red ochre—which they require for their ceremonies and corrobborees.
Ochre and pipe-clay, which form an article for inter-tribal barter, are carried from one tribe to another in oblong parcels contained in bark wraps, which are folded at the ends and kept together with fibre-string. Small quantities are always carried by the men in their chignons and dilly bags, and, when larger supplies are required for special occasions, they are consigned to the care of the women.
When ochre is required for decorative purposes, it is necessary to reduce it to a fine powder. This is done by placing a measured amount upon a level surface of rock and grinding it with the aid of a medium-sized pebble. Hand-mills of this description are to be found at any sites which natives have been in the habit of embellishing with their drawings; they may be recognized as small, shallow depressions scooped into the surface by the continued abrasion of the hand-piece. Where there is no flat, natural surface available, the grinding is done upon portable slabs the women carry around from one camp to another.
Fig. 19. Charcoal sketch of crows, Pigeon Hole, Victoria River (× 1/3). Tracing.