Page:Notes on the Aborigines of New South Wales.djvu/16

Rh When the game which has been caught during the day is cooked by the men at their own quarters, a fair share is taken by the guardians and given to the novices, who are then permitted to sit up, with their backs towards the men's camp, and must eat their food with the blankets or rugs over their heads, so that they cannot see anything around them. None of the men eat any of the game at their own camp until the novices have been supplied with their allowance.

Close to the men's camp, between it and the yard in which the boys are kept, a space is cleared of all grass and loose rubbish, with a fire lit on one side of it. About dusk, the novices are brought out and placed sitting in a row near this cleared patch, facing the fire, on the other side of which the men are to perform. Presently the men dance along past the fire imitating the gait and actions of one or more of the following animals: bandicoots, grasshoppers, wallabies, turkeys, iguanas, native bears, or any other creature which may have been selected as the subject of the play for the evening. The animal chosen is generally the totem of some of the people present, or perhaps has a legendary connection with their ancestors.

Several days may be spent at this camp, or perhaps a fresh camping place is reached every night. In either case various spectacular displays, representing totems, hunting scenes, and also songs and dances, take place every day, and also in the evening at the camp fires. Different animals are represented each evening, and the singing is varied as much as their scanty repertoire of songs will admit of, the members of each tribe contributing a fair share. The time spent at these camps in the bush generally occupies about a week, being regulated by the weather and other considerations.

About the middle of this period, preparations are made for the extraction of one of the novices' upper incisor teeth. A small patch of ground is cleared of all loose rubbish a short distance from the camp, and the guardians raise the novices to their feet and conduct them hither. In this clear space, which is called the bunnumbeal, some men are seated, beating the ground in front of them with pieces of bark, shaped something like a cricket bat, and making a noise. One man then bends down, and places the boy sitting on his knee, another man standing beside him to keep the boy steady. The tooth extractor then steps forward, and inserts his own lower teeth under one of the boy's upper incisors, and gives a strong steady pull for the ostensible purpose of loosening the tooth. A small piece of wood, hardened in the fire, is then used as a chisel, being placed against the tooth, and a smart tap with a mallet on the other end completes the dental operation. The tooth is then taken out of the boy's mouth with the man's fingers, and held up to the public view, which is the signal for a shout from all the men present. The boys have to swallow the blood which flows from the wounded gum. During these proceedings a bull-roarer is sounded in the adjacent bush just out of sight, and at the conclusion the boys are led back to their camp, and put sitting down with their hands over their mouths.

During the seclusion in the bush, many obscene exhibitions are enacted in the presence of the novices, which cannot be described in a work intended for general perusal. At one part of the ceremonies, a man of the local mob is killed by the visiting tribes, and eaten by all present. The novices are also given some of his blood to drink.