Page:Native Tribes of South-East Australia.djvu/570

544 being tucked under the folds. This belt is coloured with red ochre. In front hangs the narrow kilt (Burrain), thrust up under it so as to hang down and preserve decency, being fastened to the belt by the two outside thongs, which are tucked once or twice under and round the belt. A Burrain also hangs down behind.

The novices were now covered as before with their blankets; and, being seated beside their Kabos, were told that, their teeth being out, nothing more would be done to them, that they were no longer boys, but were to look on and attend to all the Kabos told them.

The proceedings which I shall now describe continued all night, and are intended to enforce the teachings of the Kabos, to amuse the boys, and at the same time to securely establish the authority of the old men over them.

The magic fire was freshly built up, and the novices were told to stand up and observe. I may now mention once for all that the evening's ceremonial entertainments and proceedings were carried on alternately by the two sections of the community—the mountain Bemeringal and the sea-coast Katungal.

Dances and performances alternated, some merely to amuse, others to illustrate the magical powers of the Gommeras, and others to enforce tribal morality, or to perpetuate tribal legends. These were all strung together by a series of buffooneries, some of them of the broadest kind, and pervaded by the inverted manner of speaking before mentioned. Jokes, which were too broad for translation, were bandied about from side to side with the inevitable "Yah!" attached, which implied that they were not to be taken as serious.

In all these performances the men are naked, and even towards morning, when it clouded over and a smart shower fell, only a few put on a little covering. The old men especially adhered to the rules of their fathers, so far as they could do so, in the conduct of the ceremonies and their own procedure. One old man put on nothing when it rained but a pair of boots.

The first performance was by the Bega Gommera, and