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[Page 12]
The Gloucester Blacks used the same language but
lower down there was a slight change about Dungog & Patterson
North it had altered a good bit by the time it got to the
McLeay River. = Their dress in these times consisted of a belt
made of Oposum wool string round the waist, in front was
a tassel made of a native cat skin cut into stripes, and
nothing else, except a net knitted of very fine string round
the forhead [forehead]= they were very fond of geting[sic] course[coarse] whitebrown
thread for making this, it was always made red with
Raddle which they got from somewhere up the Landsdown
or John's Rivers. We some how never seamed[seemed] to realise that
the Man or Woman were naked = a naked Blackfellow
would walk into the Kitchen, squat down at the fire & light
his pipe and we were not shoked[shocked] a bit, = The Women were
a bit more particular, but not much, if you came across
them in the Bush without their blankets they did not bother
more did we = But if we saw a White in his buff we
would be quite shoked[sic] = The Woman's dress was a blanket
and nothing else = They made the nets for the mens heads = made
them with fine string out of the Kurragung and made bags
out of a stronger string, knitted quite a diferent[sic] stitch
to how the Whites knit = they used no mesh, but the finger,
they were very strong = I have seen them carrying big loads
in them. They used to spin the Opossum wool for the mens
belts = but I have often seen the men spining[spinning] that = they
used a small stick with a hook at the end - this
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