The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-09-25

/ nave not even risen to such point o
civilization as to have oermanen
: houses, addicted to capitalism, ant
E altogether of a very degraded type
But, nevertheless, l must say that the.
have many good qualities, and tina
their cooe o. honor would bear com
-parison with that of any civilized ma
ton.
: Although no permanent houses were
: erected, the natives with whom | LIVED
did build habitations, which they oc.
cupied during the two or three months
of cold weather. These were made OF
sticks driven into the ground, around
J witch branches, twiss. roots and
brushes were interviewer like a basket
} The spaces in the walls were covered
with mud or with the material used
in the construction OF the White ant S
knest. In cold weather the huts were
lined with emu and . ngaroo skins,
and they are much more comfortable
than cen probably be imagined from
my description.
Frequently the number of these huts
gathered together in one place forms
large village, though at other times
the communities split up into tribes of
twenty or thirty families each. Each
family, on the average, consists of one
man, three women and five or six chill
dren- so that even a single tribe makes
very considerable gathering.
/ CLOTHING AND DECORATIONS.
While my natives did not, as a rule.
paint the body, on great occasions,
such as corroboreeS, initiation cere-
monies, and other festivities, they
paint and decorate themselves elabor-
ately, each tribe having it's own de-
sign of decoration, and even a geomet-
rical design for each ceremony. The
pigments used in decoration are of
l m onlnrS tarrfo
white and black.
Ordinarily the only clothing known
| consists of a coating of greasy clay,
mixed with charcoal. This serves
many purposes. 1t keeps off the cold
during winter and is also a protection
against the attacks of insects In sum-
! mer a special kind of pigment is used
to keep off insects, and this material
is scented with a kind of penneroyal.
! They occasionally stick on to this clay
clothing the feather-doWn from swans,
cockatoos, geese, ducks turkeys and
other birds. This serves as a further
protection, and when they want to i'm
prove upon the touches of red, they use
| blood obtained from the arm of q
man. Other ornaments are the wing
and tail feathers from all the large
birds, such as the emu or native COM
| panion, these being worn in the hair
usually. They also make use of
feather tufts on the breast and Shout
ders. while the bones and teeth of ami
mails are made into jingling necklaces.
From this brief description it will be
evident that my subjects presented a
most fantastic appearance on full-dress
occasions, and it must be added that
they are cannibals.
ETIQUETTE OF CANNIBALISM.
Cannibalism prevails to a Terry great
extent, but is governed by many rules.
Usually it is the slain victims in bat
tie that are eaten by the victorious
side, and as the object seems to be to
acquire the vAlor and virtues of the
person eaten, l endeavored to wean the
tribes from cannibalism by assuring
them that if they made bracelets, ank-
lets and necklaces out of the dead
mans hair they would achieve their
end equally well. When family
grows too large, and the mother-be-
ing the beast of BURDENS unable to
carry one of the children, the father
orders it to be dubbed and eaten.
This, however, is entirely actuated by
love, as the natives have horror of
natural decay. Manned and deformed
children are. also. killed and eaten. Wo-
men and people, who die natural
death are never eaten. When man
has TO be eaten there is always a grand
corroboree. All parts are consumed,
the brain, heart and kidneys being
considered special delicacies. Some of
the bones, such as those from the an
kle are used as ornaments. Often
they are strung together to form
jingling necklaces, but they are chiefly
made up into War-beltS, which rattle
when the owner dances. Other bones
are used in connection with Sorcery to
bring about the death of enemies, and
these are known as the death bones.
l,
to commemorate the victory. but are
never carried about. Any bones that
are left are burnt and are never given
to the dogs. Human flesh is not pre-
pared or cooked in the usual cooking
places, but a special fire is made for
the purpose in an oven dug in the sand.
Thus it will be seen that human flesh
does not form part of the regular food
of the people. The natives are not
ashamed TO confess cannibalism, nor is
an individual considered unclean after
joining in feast. From this account
it may appear that my natives We're
not pleasant people to live among,
but 1 found the reverse to be the case.
They were always cheerful, obedient
and deferential in their manner, and
many times did l owe my life to the
care exercised by my faithful native
wife. 1t was possible to devise many
occupations, which were at least Suf- |
ficient to pass the time. For amuSe- !
ment l used to search the beds of the |
water courses for curious stones. In a |
great many of these water courses | !
found both coarse and fine gold, and
in some instances the creeks were ex- /
tremely rich in alIuvial gold. IN some 7
cases a bed Of cement or concrete was /
found at the bottom of a creek. gold |
was sticking out at the sides, which {
proved that there was large proper !
ton of that precious metal in the con- /
crete. / frequently picked up large I
nuggets, but had no use for the metal, !
save to make ornaments for my wife; 1
but these she did not appear to value, |
and promptly gave them away to some J
children wherewith TO amuse them.
Alluvial gold was found to the north of
my mountain home, and rSef gold to
the south, the richest deposits of all
occurring in the southwest.
GOLD AND PRECIOUS STONES.
1 found great quantities of gem
stones of every shape and color, which
could be distinguished by looking
through them when wet. In some cases
the prevailing color of the stones would
be various shades of red, in others
blue, and in rarer cases green. This l
took respectively to be ruby, sapphire
and emerald. The red color predOmi-
mated. 1t is my opinion that many of
these are gems of great value. They
were of varying degrees of hardness,
which l used to test by scratching one
against the other Knowing l was in
terested in such things. the natives
showed me stones which were brilliant
" black, and looked like pieces of
freshly broken coal These stones 1
found to be extremely hard and would