Page:Native Tribes of South-East Australia.djvu/601

IX with a stick prepared for the occasion. It is said that the youth's mother is the custodian of the tooth, and takes much care of it. As everything relating to these ceremonies is kept very secret, this is only hearsay. White men are not allowed to be present at this great ceremony, but by bribing one of the leading men my correspondent was permitted to be present at part of the performance, on the condition that he did not come so near to the ceremony as to annoy the assembled tribes. On the eventful morning (about the year 1844) he went to the place indicated, where he found about two hundred of the tribesmen differently but tastefully painted in red, white, and yellow, and armed to the teeth. They were in groups here and there in a little valley. On riding about he noticed a large gum-tree deeply carved with hieroglyphics, which he was informed was a record to future generations that a Bumbat had been celebrated in that locality. A circle of eighty to ninety feet in diameter was dug, or scratched, on a level piece of ground, leaving a space of four or five feet undisturbed to enter the circle by. In the centre of this circle there was a fire of moderate dimensions, and attended to by one of the men. Shortly there was a stir when a detachment entered the circle, and with dancing, yelling, and gesticulations, and brandishing of arms at intervals, all made a rush to the fire, yelling and jumping on it, until it was quite extinguished, when they retired. The spot where the fire had been being now cool, the embers and ashes were levelled, and boughs were brought and disposed of in the middle of the circle. Then two men proceeded to the camp of the females, two or three hundred yards' distant, and marched them and the children with their heads prone to the circle, where they were made to lie down and be covered up with boughs, rugs, bark, and whatever was at hand. This being done, the whole force of the assembled tribes came up, running, shouting, and striking their shields with their clubs, and using a roarer which produced the most fearful and unnatural sounds. A sort of warlike pantomime was then enacted, and the women and children, closely covered up, were frightened out of their wits, and cried out lustily. Suddenly the fearful noises ceased,