Page:Native Tribes of South-East Australia.djvu/594

568 selves. Soon after sunrise the Carrahdis and their party advanced in quick movements towards the Yoolahng, one after the other, shouting as they entered it and running twice or thrice round it.

The boys were then brought to the Yoolahng, hanging their heads and clasping their hands. On being seated in this manner the ceremonies began, the principal performers being about twenty in number, and all of the Cam-mer-ray tribe.

The exhibitions were numerous and various, and all in their tendency pointed towards the boys and had some allusions to the principal act of the day which was to be the concluding scene of it.

Shortly, the different parts of the ceremony are as follows. There was a dance in which the performers represented dingoes, and during it the boys continued perfectly still and quiet, never moving from the position in which they were placed, nor seeming in the least to notice the ridiculous appearance of the Carrahdis and their associates.

The next was the carrying by two men of a kangaroo made of grass, and also of a load of brushwood, which were laid respectively at the feet of the boys, other men singing and beating time to which the two men walked. In the third some men dressed to represent a flock of kangaroos, other men pretending to steal on them and spear them.

The next appeared to be a pendant to the preceding one. The men disguised as kangaroos, divesting themselves of the disguises, each caught up a boy and placing him on his shoulders carried him to the last scene of the ceremony. The account is here imperfect, Collins not having been, as it seems to me, permitted to see all. From the description of what he saw, it may be conjectured that it was one of those representations which at the Kuringal are intended to impart qualities to the boy such as will make him a more worthy member of the community to which he is to be admitted. The men who lifted the boys on their shoulders were most likely the analogues of the Kabos.