Page:Native Tribes of South-East Australia.djvu/571

IX it was a ludicrous one. It represents an old man tormented by opossums. It must be mentioned that, whenever possible, the men who represented animals were of those totems, and indeed all the animals which were represented in these performances were the totem animals of the tribe. Thus, when it is a kangaroo hunt, it is a kangaroo man who performs, and the wild-dog men hunt him. But if there are not sufficient of the necessary totems, then other men help them.

In this instance the great age of the performer was indicated, as in all other cases, by his leaning on a staff. He was occupied in chopping some animal out of a hollow log, and behind him were a number of opossums, crouching in the bushes. As he chopped, an opossum came behind him and scratched his bare leg, frightening him, to judge by the caper he cut and the yell he uttered, as he turned round and hit at it with his staff. His tormentor dodged him, and, running past on all fours, lay down at the edge of the cleared space. The old man now resumed his chopping, when another opossum ran out and bit his leg, and the old man, jumping and yelling, hit at and missed him. So it went on till all the opossum men had passed from one side of the fire to the other, and were lying side by side. The performer now dropped his staff and tomahawk and rushed to the fire, where he clapped his hands, shouting the word for opossum, whereupon all the opossum men sprang up and danced round him and the fire.

The next was a magic dance to the word meaning "legs." In this the dancing of the Gommeras and the exhibition of their Joïas was a marked feature of the dance. At one time there would be only one, then others would rush into the ring, until there were four or five, once there were six, all dancing in an excited state, staring with goggle eyes, with their lips drawn back, showing their Joïas held between their teeth, in the firelight, for it had become dark. One man in his frenzy threw himself down on his knees, and danced on them. Others danced until, apparently overcome by their own magic, they fell down seemingly senseless.