Abstract
Queensland Aborigines. Further notes on the aborigines of Princess Charlotte Bay, North Queensland, have been published by Messrs. Herbert M. Hale and Norman B. Tindale (Eec. S. Austral. Mus., vol. 5, No. 2). A study of the language and vocabularies of four tribes are included. Two types of canoe are in use, one in which a single outrigger is placed on the starboard side, and the other a double outrigger. The canoes are made from trees hollowed out, formerly by axes of stone, and the outriggers are supported by booms. In the first, the booms are lashed to crossed sticks which are attached to the outrigger; in the latter the booms are directly attached in pairs to each outrigger. The view held by Roth that the single outrigger is a local modification of the double is not accepted. It is thought that they are both due to external cultural influence, differing in time. The camps are both temporary and semi-permanent. The former may be constructed by small parties when away hunting. Their shelters differ considerably from those which are erected in the semi-permanent camps and may be occupied for weeks or even months. The temporary shelters are semicircular, and only four or five feet in diameter. They are formed of a framework of thin saplings, on which strips of bark are laid. Leafy boughs afford additional shelter from the sun. In the more enduring form, the huts are larger and higher. They are built in a rounded dome-shaped form with a circular base about ten feet in diameter. Bark completely covers the framework, except for the small doorway only twelve or sixteen inches in height. The bark is covered with thick tussocks of grass. This affords efficient shelter from all but the heaviest rains. The only shelters to which the term ‘permanent’ can properly be applied are caves and rock shelters. These are occupied by large bodies of natives for long periods, especially during the wet season. The surfaces of large rock shelters usually bear a number of paintings, many representing animals and other objects, which can readily be identified.
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Research Items. Nature 135, 116–117 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/135116a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/135116a0
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