Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/304

 226 THE PORT LINCOLN TRIBE. CUSTOMS AND CEREMONIES. It is a curious fact, as well as a strong proof of the degraded social condition of the aboriginal inhabitants of this country, that they have no chief, or any persons of acknowledged superior authority among them. All grown-up men are perfectly equal, and this is so well understood that none ever attempt to assume any command over their fellows; but whatever wishes they may entertain with regard to the conduct and actions of others, they must be expressed in the shape of entreaty or persuasion. Considerable deference, however; is shown to the old men by the younger generation, proceeding, perhaps, partly from the respect which superior age and experience inspire, but greatly increased and kept up by the superstitious awe of certain mysterious rites, known only to the grown-up men, and to the knowledge of which the young people are only very gradually admitted. The three degrees of initiation through which the youths must pass form so many periods of their lives, and the appellation of the character which each degree confers on them supersedes their ordinary names during the time that intervenes between the ceremonies or immediately follows them. The first initiation takes place about the age of fifteen, when the boys assume the title of Warrara. I have never witnessed the ceremonies attending it, as the natives hitherto were very jealous of strangers being present, from fear that through them the women and children might become acquainted with the mysteries practised. I have been told, however, that the boy is conducted from the camp blindfolded, by one man styled the Yumbo, whose duty it is to attend the warrara during the whole ceremony at some remote place, which must be screened from the eyes of the women and children, who remain behind. When arrived at the spot chosen he is laid down on the ground and covered over with skins, and the yumbo sits down by his side to keep watch over him. The rest of the company now prepare a number of small whips (pullakalli), to the end of which a small chip of wood about ten inches long and half-an-inch broad is attached; by