Page:Native Tribes of South-East Australia.djvu/684

658 Mura-mura. This is not inherited from his mother, as is his Murdu, but from his father.

The boy's name is not exactly a secret name, but a youth when he has been once honoured with his Matteri-tali, and has been announced by it as a man, is too proud to let himself be called a boy.

There are eight tribes which have separate Karaweli-wonkana ceremonies, and each has its particular Karaweli-malkara, that is, the song belonging to the ceremonies. Of these, that of the Pirha and the Wapiya are mentioned in the legend of the Mankara-pirna-ya-waka (Appendix).

This inheritance of the legend of the individual's Mura-mura shows that the Mura-mura is in some manner the ancestor, and connects the Dieri beliefs with the legends of the Arunta, and the Alcheringa ancestors. So far, however, I have not any evidence that the Dieri hold the Arunta belief in the re-incarnation of the supernatural ancestor.

The next ceremony after that of the Karaweli-wonkana is called Wilyaru. A young man without previous warning is led out of the camp by some old men who are of the relation of Neyi to him, and not of near, but distant relationship. On the following morning the men, old and young, except his father and elder brothers, surround him, and direct him to close his eyes. One of the old men then binds the arm of another old man tightly with string, and with a sharp piece of flint lances the vein about an inch from the elbow, causing a stream of blood to fall over the young man, until he is covered with it, and the old man is becoming exhausted. Another man takes his place, and so on until the young man becomes quite stiff from the quantity of blood adhering to him. The reason given for this practice is that it infuses courage into the young man, and also shows him that the sight of blood is nothing, so that should he receive a wound in warfare, he may account it as a matter of no moment.