Observations placeholder

From Aboriginal Men of High degree - A P Elkin

A man with many crystals in his body could lie down to sleep on the margin of Dhakkan's watery dwelling. The prickly sensation caused through the cold and sluggish circulation was regarded as a sign that he had been taken to Dhakkan's domain, where he gave the spirit magic stones and received cord or crystals in return. Such a person would wake up full of life and be a medicine man of the highest degree. His power was associated with quartz crystals, in particular, a large white one, which were carried both in his insides and in his bag. He also used certain flat circular black stones, which were probably obsidianites. These stones and also some cord (bukkur) were bestowed on him by benevolent spirits inhabiting mineral springs. The reference to a man having many stones in his insides before going down to Dhakkan for his endowment with power and life (muru muru, full of life) implies a preliminary stage in the doctor's progress.