The natives are fond of singing, and their voices are melodious, while they keep excellent time by beating two boomerangs together; they sing a sort of monotonous chant, and keep it up in camp to a late hour. Their songs of mourning are always pitched in a minor key, and convey a dreadfully sorrowful expression; they are sung by both male and female, but the chant is soon varied, as their natural inclination is to be merry, and they look on most things in a ludicrous light. Their sense of humour is very keen and to mimic everything is their chief delight. The clear ringing laugh that they indulge in, and their merry chatter, are an indication of the cheerful nature and freedom from care, that help to make them so contented and easily pleased. They believe that the spirits of the dead, which are good and bad, go about at night and hold communication with some members of the tribe, particularly with the medicine men, or doctors. The medicine men claim to have power to talk with the spirits, and the blacks firmly believe that they have such power of communication. These old men are also supposed to preserve the traditions and superstitions of the tribe, and they alone can perform with efficacy the various ceremonies attendant on the healing of the sick; they also instruct the young men in the beliefs of the tribe and as to the proper conduct of their lives, and this they do at special meetings known as bora meetings. It is the special privilege of the old men to hold communication with the spirits of the departed, by which they become possessed of much knowledge which they impart to their tribe. They believe they have the power of making rain and healing the sick. The blacks live in continual dread of death, which they attribute to some spirit agency or to witchcraft. Scarcely any death is put down to natural causes, except those killed in fight; sickness and death are always regarded by them as the works of an enemy at a distance. This belief is universal among Australian blacks. They have various ideas as to how this evil influence is brought about; one of them is by pointing a bone at the victim, and for this a piece of a human leg bone sharpened to a point and several inches long is used. They live in dread of this bone (Thimmool) being pointed at them, and have a great aversion at any time to touch or even look at any bones of deceased members of the tribe. It is supposed that the pointing of the bone causes a gradual wasting away of the victim until death takes place. Another process is to take the pinion of a bird, the two bones fastened together with wax, including some hair of the person whose injury is intended; this is stuck in the ground and surrounded with fire, then it is set in the sun, and again returned to the fire, varying the performance according as to the extent of the harm to be caused; when sufficient sickness has been caused, they place the bone in water, thus dispelling the charm.