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20 THE ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA. the Macleay River gives the following sketch of this ceremony :—“ From the repugnance which the blacks at the Macleay displayed on my looking at their performance, and their angry refusal to allow me to see the main part of the ceremony, I am unable to give a regular account of- it, having only been able to obtain occasional glimpses. After many preliminary grotesque mummeries had been performed, the doctors or priests of the tribe took each a boy, and held him for some time with his head downwards near the fire. Afterwards, with great solemnity, they were invested with the opossum belt; and at considerable intervals, between each presentation, they were given the nulla-nulla, the boomerang, the spear, &c. "Whilst these arms were being conferred upon them the other natives performed a sham fight, and pretended to hunt the pademelon, spear fish, and imitate various other occupations, in which the weapons, lately presented to the youth, would be of service. As their ceremonies occupied a fortnight or more before they were concluded, many other ridiculous scenes were undoubtedly enacted, and during all this time the women did not dare to approach the performers. Each man was also provided with a singular instrument, formed with a piece of hollowed wood fastened to a long piece of flax string; by whirling this rapidly round their heads a loud shrill noise was produced, and the blacks seemed to attach a great degree of mystic importance to the sound of this instrument, for they told me that if a woman heard it she would die. The conclusion of this ceremony was a grand dance of a peculiar character, in which the boys join, and which the women are allowed to see. This dance is performed with much more solemnity than the ordinary corroborees. The Yarra-hapinni tribe, which I saw execute this dance near the Clybucca Creek, were so elaborately painted with white for the occasion that even their very toes and fingers were carefully and regularly coloured with concentric rings, whilst their hair was drawn up in a close knot, and stuck all over with the snowy down of the white cockatoo, which gave them the appearance of being decorated with white wings. In this dance the performers arranged themselves in the form of a semicircle, and grasping the ends of their boomerangs, which are also painted with great minuteness and regularity, they swayed their bodies rapidly from right to left, displaying a degree of flexibility in their limbs which might have created the envy of many a pantomimic artist. Each movement of their bodies to and fro was accompanied by a loud hiss, whilst a number of other natives, similarly painted, beat time with sticks, and kept up an incessant and obstreperous song. Every now and then the dancers would stop and rush, crowding together into a circle, raising their weapons with outstretched arms, and joining with frantic energy in the song. They would then be more composed, and walk backwards and forwards in couples, holding each other by the hand, until again roused by an elderly native to resume the dance. It was not until midnight that the noise ceased, which, every evening whilst the ceremonies lasted, might be heard at a distance of two or three miles.” The spear is the chief weapon, and is thrown by help of a throwing-stick (woomarah), by which an increased leverage is obtained. Some of them are barbed, and deadly in their effect. The shafts of some are of heavy wood, others of reed. The shields with which they defend themselves are of either bark or wood, and the dexterity with which they ward off the spears is astonishing. I have seen in a case of punishment, when the criminal had to stand all alone and to defend himself from the shower of spears cast at him, that he stood perfectly self-possessed. On these occasions perhaps a hundred or more natives are assembled. The criminal stands at a certain distance until a given number of spears have been cast at him. The boomerang is another weapon of very singular formation. It is a crooked blade, very like the blade of a steamer’s screw, and much on that principle. It is cast by the hand, and gyrates through the air, and can be so thrown as to return to the feet of the thrower ; or in a longer flight, dancing along the ground. It is particularly hard to guard against, from the curvature of its motion. It is used for killing birds on the wing, and can be thrown to a distance of 150 yards. The late Sir Thomas Mitchell fashioned a propeller for a steam-boat on this principle. Their manufactures are few. Their canoes are miserable vessels, made out of a sheet of bark tied up at the ends. But having no great lakes to cross, like in America, nor any very dangerous rivers, they answer the purpose of ferrying two or three persons over at a time, if great care be exercised. The late Admiral King describes the natives as having canoes 18 feet long, capable of containing eight persons in some instances, made out of trees ; while the natives on the coast capture dugong, from which the celebrated oil is procured. Some of these fish weigh from 12 lbs. to 14 lbs. ; they live on marine plants. There is certainly some indication here of a higher order of natives than those generally dispersed to the south. Probably they were at one time higher in civilization than at present. They make baskets and mats from the bark of the mallee tree, and the latter also from sea-weed, which sometimes serves the purpose of a bed. But their cloaks, made of opossum skins, prepared and sewn together with sinews, form comfortable, and warm garments. They likewise dress other skins—of the kangaroo and native cat, sewing them together with the sinews of the kangaroo’s tail. Their stone
