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, considering the droughty appearance of the country, it seems feasible that on this occasion every available rain-making board was brought into use.

We were unfortunately unable to carry the Empress Spring boards, owing to their bulk and unwieldy shape.

From the other spot, however, seeing that we were nearing our journey’s end, I brought one board—­the only one unbroken—­into civilisation.  This I gave to Sir John Forrest, who in his journey across the Colony in 1874 found a similar board at the same place.  In his journal he writes:  “. . .I named it Alexander Spring, after my brother. . . .  We also found about a dozen pieces of wood, some 6 feet long and 3 to 7 inches wide, and carved and trimmed up.  All around were stones put up in forked trees.  I believe it is the place where the right of circumcision is performed.”  Mr. Cusack’s statement as to their extreme rarity in the Nor’-West, taken in conjunction with Sir John’s experience and ours, would point to the strong reliance the natives must place on their Rain-doctor’s abilities, for where the rainfall is comparatively great these boards are rare, while in the almost waterless interior, at a spot almost exactly in the centre of the Colony, nearly a dozen have been found.  I would respectfully point out to the black-fellows how little their efforts have been successful, and would suggest the importation of several gross of boards, for the climate at present falls a long way short of perfection!

In the McDonnell Ranges (Central Australia) performers in the rain-dance wear on their heads a “long, erect, and ornamented structure of wood” ("Horn Scientific Expedition,” part iv.).  This structure is not carved, but picked out with down made to adhere by blood, and is apparently some 3 to 4 feet long.  From the length of the boards we found (one being 10 feet), I should say that some other method of using them must be in vogue amongst the desert tribes.