Page:Native Tribes of South-East Australia.djvu/550

524 the name of Daramulun, and each producing his special Joïa; amongst others, one looked like a black membrane, and another was, to all appearances, a piece of one of the lesser intestines of some small animal, which the Gommera let hang from, and then withdrew into, his mouth.

5. Finally the lesser Bunan is reached, in which one medicine-man dances while the others dance round it. He who was inside it exhibited a black substance about five inches in length which hung from his mouth, and was then withdrawn. It is a Joïa called Braun the meaning of which word I did not learn, but the Joïa itself is said to enable its possessor to cause an enemy's eyesight to become dim, so that he would be unable to defend himself.

After all these magical substances have been exhibited to the contingent, they return quietly to the Bunan circle, the first entering making a sound like "prr! prr!" and each joining in this as he enters, so that, as the women have all the time continued singing the "tooth"-song under surveillance, they could not be aware of what has been going on.

The men being now all within the circle, one of them calls out the name of some place a number of times, and they all go off to their respective camps. In the evening there is a dancing corrobboree, the Bunan-makers being the performers, and the contingent the spectators, in whose honour it is held.

This ceremonial is repeated on the arrival of each contingent, and may extend over several weeks. During this time the "tooth"-song is sung by the women each night when they hear the mudthi sounded at the camp of the young men, that is, of those who have been at one initiation only. This camp is at about 200 to 300 yards from those of the married men.

When all the contingents have arrived, the men about daybreak rush off, each carrying a fire-stick or a burning log. They run into the great Bunan and throw the burning wood into a heap in the centre of the circle, and pile up bark and dead wood on it to make a great fire. Meanwhile the guardians of the boys who are to be initiated have taken them to another small fire made about a hundred