. Across Australia . «%3^y^It^^. xiii KAITISH AND UNMATJERA TRIBES 323 the Kaitish tribe it is not much used and in the tribesfurther north it is quite unknown—indeed this was thelast time that we saw it used. The rain-man was ofcourse supposed to be responsible for the water supply,and as Barrow Creek is situated in the very heart of thecontinent, where the rainfall is very precarious and un-certain, he was a man of considerable importance. Hewas not particularly friendly to the white man, and ayear or two before our visit, during a long drought, hetold the natives that he did not Intend to a
. Across Australia . «%3^y^It^^. xiii KAITISH AND UNMATJERA TRIBES 323 the Kaitish tribe it is not much used and in the tribesfurther north it is quite unknown—indeed this was thelast time that we saw it used. The rain-man was ofcourse supposed to be responsible for the water supply,and as Barrow Creek is situated in the very heart of thecontinent, where the rainfall is very precarious and un-certain, he was a man of considerable importance. Hewas not particularly friendly to the white man, and ayear or two before our visit, during a long drought, hetold the natives that he did not Intend to allow any morerain to fall until the drought had killed off all the whitemen and their cattle, so that the blacks could have thecountry to themselves once more. He did not seem torealise that if the white men were killed ofi^, the nativeswould also have a very bad time. He either relented, orelse something that he had not calculated upon happened,because a heavy rain fell shortly afterwards so thatneither the white men nor thei
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectethnolo, bookyear1912
