Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/262

188 The boys, besides being taught to obtain their own food, are also exercised in the use of the spear and other weapons; and when arrived at the age of fourteen or fifteen years, they take part in the wars between the tribes. A few years afterwards, when sixteen or eighteen years of age, according to the growth of the beard, he is admitted into the rank of the men, and becomes rambe, or sacred, in the following way:—

In the summer time, when the nights are warm, several tribes meet together for the purpose of fighting, and afterwards amusing themselves with dancing and singing. Immediately after the fight, the relations of the different tribes visit each other for purposes of amusement. Previously, however, the men have spoken together, and agreed to make some two of the boys into men, and for this purpose have provided themselves with grease and red ochre, which are required in the ceremony to be performed. In the midst of the amusement the men suddenly give a shout, and all turn towards the two young men, who are suddenly seized and carried away by the men. The females cease their singing and begin to scold, for from this time they are not allowed to accept any food from these young men. As soon as these latter are brought to the place appointed for the ceremony two fires are made, and the young men placed between. Several of the men are now engaged in singeing and plucking out all the hair from the body except the hair of the head and beard, and as soon as this is accomplished, the whole body except the face is rubbed over with grease and red ochre. The young men thus anointed are not allowed to sleep during the whole night, but must either sit or stand until the morning, when the men return to them, and they are then obliged to go into the bush until sundown, when they return to their male relations, but are to avoid the females, and obtain some food, for until now they have not eaten. They are now considered rambe (sacred or holy), and no female must accept any food from them, not even their own brothers, until such time as they are allowed to ask for a wife. For a year after this the two assist each other in singeing and plucking out the hair, and rubbing in the ochre and