about them, but have never succeeded in getting any answer beyond "I
dunno, gin (or lubra) no more see 'em; gin see 'em, she tumble down quick
fella." There must be some very queer superstition connected with them,
since the ladies die on seeing them. Indeed, the black fellow has a
somewhat arbitrary method of dealing with his gins, and should they be
ill-advised enough to attempt to argue with him, does not wait to produce
a flat stick, but silences them with a club.

8. RAIN-MAKING BOARDS.

M. Three of similar pattern found at Alexander Spring.

N. Found at Empress Spring hidden away with two similar to M.

With reference to these queer and rudely carved boards I received a
letter from Mr. W. H. Cusack, of Roebourne, North-West Australia, in
which he says: ". . .The implement you allude to is used by the
"Mopongullera," or Rain-doctor, at their ceremony which they hold annually
when they are making the rain. They are very rare, as there is only one
every two hundred miles or so in the country. They are generally left at
the rain ground, where you found yours, or placed in a cave, where the
only one I have seen IN TWENTY-FIVE YEARS was found. They are the most
sacred implements they possess. . ."

It would seem from the foregoing that we were specially lucky in seeing
so many of these boards--viz., six within a distance of fifty
miles--though it is possible that of the three found at Alexander Spring
(on the occasion of our second visit) two might be identical with two of
the three found at Empress Spring. Between our two visits to Alexander
Spring there had evidently been a considerable gathering of blacks, and,