Medical treatment.

The medical treatment received by them is of a very primitive nature. It is out of the power of any of the old men, including the Kooradgee, to reset a broken limb; although they profess to be able to do it. Other ailments are treated by rubbing the body over with the sap extracted from the apple or the bloodwood tree, which being of a most astringent nature may have some effect. A counter irritation is often brought on by making the patient stand on an ant-bed for a few minutes. Sometimes an old man or the Kooradgee fills his mouth with water and spurts it over the painful part. I have seen this done by an old woman to her husband, who had a swelled eye. The mode of cure is supposed to be a great secret; a great deal is done, or supposed to be done, by the Kooradgee. Burying an arm or leg in the ground for a page 50 time is occasionally practised. On one occasion I called attention to the filthy state of a young child. The mother quietly scraped two or three handfuls of earth together, and threw it over the helpless brat.