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[Page 10]
9
In making opossum rugs the winter skins were pegged
out on trees and dried in the usual way and were then
prepared by the women and made soft and pliable by
patient rubbing with smooth stones. Before the coming
of the white men's needles and thread I believe they
were sewn together with kangaroo tail sinews sinews.
They were beautiful rugs, much appreciated by white housewives.
Dilly bag grass grows in clumps, the stem is tall, flat, and
tough and it is found usually in sandstone country.
Years ago it was not plentiful but I have on the homestead
ridge at Bentley, between Casino and Lismore, I have seen
black gins pounce eagerly upon it, gather it, and
carefully stow it away for future use. Seven years
ago I saw some clumps of it at Mr B. Carlill's property
Eurigar, Shannon Brook, about a dozen miles from
Casino. The gins had some way of preparing the
grass before weaving and ^the close woven finished work
was exquisite and extremely durable.
String was made from currajong bark and other trees
including the inner bark of the descending roots of the
parasitic giant figtree. I have seen a blackfellow
stripping and bundling this for string but I don't recollect
ever seeing the actual process of manufacture ^though but I
have been told that the bark was soaked in water