. Across Australia . a and Gnanji tribes, who call the magic maringi-litha, but they are traded away south as far as the Kaitishtribe, and members of the latter will occasionally usemauia when they desire to injure an Arunta man. Eachlittle stone is wrapped up in fold after fold of paperbarkand string. When it is used amongst the southern tribes,the usual plan is to powder a little off on to the tip of aspear, and then to drop it very quietly on to the victimsbody while he is asleep. Sometimes a little will be carriedon a bit of bark between the toes, and may thus bedropped on to a sleeping ma
. Across Australia . a and Gnanji tribes, who call the magic maringi-litha, but they are traded away south as far as the Kaitishtribe, and members of the latter will occasionally usemauia when they desire to injure an Arunta man. Eachlittle stone is wrapped up in fold after fold of paperbarkand string. When it is used amongst the southern tribes,the usual plan is to powder a little off on to the tip of aspear, and then to drop it very quietly on to the victimsbody while he is asleep. Sometimes a little will be carriedon a bit of bark between the toes, and may thus bedropped on to a sleeping man without exciting native in the act of doing this is represented in one ofthe scenes during the performance of the lUionpa cor-robboree (Fig. 185). Amongst the Gnanji tribe, fromwhom supplies of mauia or maringilitha come to otherparts, the man carrying the powder, wrapped up in paper-bark, sneaks upon his enemy at night-time. Then hequietly returns to camp, bringing back the paperbark A 1 i 1 *A , \ i 1. XIV MAGIC 351 with him, lights a small fire, and burns the bark while hisenemy lies asleep. This burning of the bark not onlymakes the death of the man still more certain, but,according to the speed at which it is burnt up, it can beforetold whether the man will die slowly or to the Warramunga tradition it was an oldPittongu (bat) man who first of all introduced mauia ; hetravelled away to the north from the Murchison Ranges,carrying with him stone axes, stone knives, barbedspears, and mauia. Far away to the north he droppedsome of the latter, which fell to earth and made a verygreat explosion, a stone arising to mark the spot ; andfrom this place mauia can now be obtained. A still more curious case of the influence of foreignmagic is associated with what, from its form, may be calleda knout. It consists of from thirty to sixty strands ofstring, made from vegetable fibre, and every Arunta mancarries at least one of these about with him, wrapped u
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectethnolo, bookyear1912
