Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/76

 18 FUNERAL RITES. sistence; this appears to be for the purpose of making them expert hunters. Everything which they possess or obtain becomes narumbe, or sacred from the touch of women; even the bird hit by their waddy, or the kangaroo speared by their spear, or the fish taken by their hook, even when these instruments are used by other hands than their own, is forbidden to all females. They are not allowed to take a wife until the time during which they are narumbe has expired; but they are allowed the abominable privilege of promiscuous intercourse with the younger portion of the other sex. Any violation of these customs is punished by the old men with death; sometimes inflicted by millin, i.e., witchcraft, but often by more violent and certain methods. I think it is evident that all these rules for the narumbe are intended as a means of making the men of the tribe hardy, by exposing them to privation and suffering. I know, however, that at present the effect is precisely the reverse. The health of many young men is utterly destroyed, and many even come by their death from the barbarous ordeal which they are forced to undergo. A lad works about a farm or station, and is clothed and fed there until he is sixteen or eighteen years of age, and then he is seized by his relatives and forced to undergo the exposure and cold inseparable from the life of a narumbe; partly induced to acquiesce by the consideration that if he does not submit he will not get a wife; and partly bribed by the offer of licentious indulgence. The consequence usually is that he gets disease of the lungs, which either weakens him for life or causes his speedy death. SECTION IV. FUNERAL RITES. The Narrinyeri point out several stars, and say that they are deceased warriors who have gone to heaven (Wyirrewarre). There are Wyungare, and Nepalle, and the Manchingga, and several others. Every native expects to go to Wyirrewarre after