Page:Moyarra- An Australian Legend in Two Cantos, 1891.djvu/52



1(p. 9) Long years have passed; those rites are done.

The ceremonies of the Australian savages have been so often, and in some respects so truly, spoken of by travellers, that I need not here detail them. Allusion to some of their principal characteristics will perhaps suffice.

The scrupulous care which conceals from women and children all knowledge of the occurrences at these ceremonies cannot be over-rated.

The punishment due to a revelation of these mysteries is death.

This statement can hardly be considered inconsistent with the fact that some white men have been made acquainted with them. The initiation has invariably taken place under promise of secrecy, and the information thus given is so much out of the bounds of local tradition that the Australian might fairly, and actually did, look upon such a revelation as unforbidden by his country's jurisprudence. Thus, when the English took possession of New South Wales, Governor Phillip and his principal officers were made acquainted with the ceremonies, as soon as they had established friendly relations with the tribe at Port Jackson.

But I have known no instance of a native revealing to his own class any of the mysteries which he is forbidden to