Page:Native Tribes of South-East Australia.djvu/637

IX plucked the fur as if for cooking. He never moved away from the Jibauk place without a fire-stick and this bag containing the opossum. When one died he had to go away and catch another to replace it. The Jibauks were not allowed any clothing other than the kilts, and they slept round the fire by the bough enclosure. All the young men of the encampment, together with the guardians of the Jibauk, kept them company. The lads obtained their food by going the rounds of the camp with their Guritches; and opening their bags, they said to the people they called upon, "Have you anything to put in here?" The food thus obtained was all they got, and it was not much. It was considered a joke to ask a Jibauk what he had caught when out hunting.

When the boy's hair had grown about two inches in length, his probation was over. The Jibauk camp was shifted on successive days nearer and nearer to the encampment, until it was quite close. During this time the Guritch had been preparing an opossum rug, which he now gave to the boy under his charge, who, being dressed in the full male costume, was led by his guardian from camp to camp of the married men, where he was received with expressions of rejoicing. The Jibauk was thus introduced to the community in the character of a man. Several evenings of singing and dancing concluded the ceremonies.

The Jibauk was not specially instructed during this time in the tribal laws and beliefs, because this was done previously by his father, father's brother, or his father's father, but he was told what animals he might or might not eat. The forbidden food included emu, black duck, musk duck, flying tuan, iguana, spiny ant-eater. He might eat the common opossum, ringtail opossum, bandicoot, wallaby, kangaroo, wombat, native bear, swan, teal, and all fish. From time to time the young man was made free of the forbidden food by having a piece of the cooked meat given him to eat by one of the old men. Sometimes it was handed to the Jibauk on the point of a stick. As he grew older, he, so to say, acquired the freedom of eating other animals. When about thirty to thirty-five, he became