Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/345

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A native of influence, on arriving at one of the camps of his own tribe, is usually received in the following manner:—On approaching the camp, the inmates close in with raised arms, as in defence; upon this, the person of note rushes at them, making a faint blow as if to strike them, they warding it off with their shields; immediately after they embrace him and lead him into the camp, where the women shortly bring him food. Should any females related to him be present they cry with joy. If he visits a neighbouring tribe he is received in the same manner as by his own.

A native of no influence or note, on returning after considerable absence, takes his seat near the camp without passing any remark. After remaining a few minutes as if dumb, the old men close round him, ask where he came from, and what befel him, when he tells them plenty of news, not forgetting to embellish. Then two old men stand up, one retailing it, and the other repeating the sentences in an excited manner. Upon this, as on all other occasions, the new comer is hospitably received, plenty to eat being furnished him.

The armed band, entrusted with the office of executing offenders (elsewhere referred to), is entitled Pinya, and appointed as follows:—A council is called of all the old men of the tribe; the chief—a native of influence—selecting the men for the pinya, and directing when to proceed on their sanguinary mission. The night prior to starting, the men composing the pinya, at about seven p.m., move out of the camp to a distance of about three hundred yards, where they sit in a circle, sticking their spears in the ground near them. The women form an outer circle round the men, a number of them bearing firesticks in their hands. The chief opens the council by asking who caused the death of their friend or relative, in reply to which the others name several natives of their own or neighbouring tribes, each attaching the crime to his bitterest enemy. The chief, perceiving