Notes on Kurnai 150 pages

Transcription - Page 85

54
stuck in the ground and having, back, a piece of an old
rug - of possum skin anything in fact to attract
attention [st-crossed out] fastened to the end. [In - crossed out] one obal which
I saw Toolebar make years ago was a small
stringy bark sapling about three feet high, the
branches were stripped off up to near the tip - the remainder
were bundled up in a bunch and tied round with
the bark of the sapling so as to make a roundish
mass nearly a foot in diameter - this obal was
stuck in the ground pointing in the way [the persons - crossed out]
[following - crossed out] we were going. Mr Seargeant Isᵒ who [travelled - crossed out]
went through the Gulf country in the early times informs
me that at Carpentaria he has seen [notice - crossed out] guide
sticks in the plains thus. [small sketch]

After consulting with the above Kurnai I saw
Bobby Brown and spoke to him about message sticks.
He also said he never heard of such a thing as sending
a message cut in a stick; that supposing he wanted to call
his friends together for a fight he should tell the message
to a "Lewin" and he should send by that Lewin his
fighting boomerang as a token. That spears and
Bridda Bridda were never sent until the Kurnai learned
that method from the Omeo Brajerak. That he could
not form any idea of what the stick was that Darby
sent to the Baul Baul Kurnai unless it was
his murrawun and if so then he might have
put "poison" on with the naial so as to kill the
Baul Baul men to whom he sent it. He also
said that he never knew of any "hand signs" for
words and that the only smoke signals used was
to make a big smoke on some high ground to call
your friends all together there.