Page:Native Tribes of South-East Australia.djvu/634

608 would be the Wuthera men who would hold the Umba, that is to say, the men of the one sub-class Kurgilla initiate the boys of the other sub-class Banbe, or vice versa. This is a remarkable innovation on the rule which, so far as I know, is universal in the tribes of South-eastern as well as of Central Australia, that the men of one moiety of the tribe initiate the youths of the other moiety. As I have before pointed out, the reason of this seems to be that it is only when the youth has been admitted to the rights and privileges of manhood in the tribe that he can obtain a wife. As his wife comes to him from the other moiety, it is the men of that moiety who must be satisfied that he is, in fact, able to take his place as the provider for, and the protector of, the woman, their sister, who is to be his wife. In this connection one can therefore see why it is that the future wife's brother, who is also his sister's husband, is the guardian of the youth in the ceremonies.

But in the Wakelbura case it is not the men of the other intermarrying moiety who initiate the youth; for if so, it would have been Malera and Wuthera men who would have respectively initiated each other's sons. So far, this has not received any explanation, further than it is probably connected with food rules, and the food animals which belong to the respective classes; and as the Wakelbura tribe is now practically extinct, it cannot be elucidated.

The Umba ceremonies relieve the individual from certain food restrictions. According to what I have been able to ascertain, the individual receives a new name at each Umba. These names denote accomplishments or qualities, as quick sight, courage, being a good fighter, or a skilful medicine-man. Some of the men received as many as four different names. The tendency of the restrictions is to reserve the best of the food for the older men, and only to admit the younger to the same privileges as they acquire age.

The Umba ground is always made at a sandy place, where there is loose soil, which is banked up, by means of boomerangs and feet, into a ridge, which encloses a square with several interior divisions. At one end there is an opening for the men to go in and out, and it faces the