THE DUK-DUK CEREMONIES. 241 



without fire or the means of making it. He remembers that he 

 is forbidden to sleep, and, as he sits, expecting the coming of he 

 knows not whom, his strained senses are awake to a chorus of 

 unfamiliar sounds which bring him terror. The day comes, but 

 brings no food, no water, no master. As the sun declines, and he 

 sees ahead another terrifying vigil, he looks toward the door. 

 Between him and food, fire, and home, hangs but a light mat, yet 

 it makes his dungeon as secure as though forged of steel, for a 

 tabu is on it. As the first night, so is the second ; as yesterday, so 

 goes to-day, only the hunger gnaws with a sharper tooth, the 

 thirst parches the throat and mouth still more, and the nerves are 

 set on edge through lack of sleep. The vigil of hunger, thirst, 

 and sleepless eyes may last two, three, or four days ; but when 

 even savage endurance can bear up no longer, the master comes. 

 He enters the house in all his glory of rushes and colored grass 

 woven into a cone, and stands before the lad. Little wonder is it 

 that, worn by his ordeal, he should fear this mysterious figure, 

 which he has always been taught meant death to look upon. If 

 his fears overcome him, he is initiated into the mystery of the 

 club, which strikes but once, and there an end. But if he bears 

 up bravely under the trial, the Duk-duk teaches him the sign of 

 recognition, gives him a new name by which he shall hereafter 

 be known, and bids him go to his own home, avoid his childish 

 playmates, tell no one the lessons that have been imparted to 

 him, but await the next visitation, when the Duk-duk will 

 surely claim him, and if he passes the remaining trials will induct 

 him into the mysteries. 



The young man goes home, announces his new name, and by 

 abundant food and rest recuperates from his recent privations. 

 Meanwhile, the Duk-duk day is drawing nigh ; the profane do not 

 know when to expect it, but the initiated know it to be the day 

 of the new moon, on which the mullet at dawn swim so near the 

 surface of the water as to break it into ten thousand ripples. If, 

 on this day, the fish swim deep at dawn, the ceremony must go 

 over for another time, when these two phenomena occur together. 

 If the fish swim high, the Duk-duk appears, the postulant makes 

 the signal which has been taught him, his sponsors the brethren 

 of the wood and sea answer for him, and lead him to the yard 

 where he undergoes the final ordeal, and, succeeding, is carried 

 along with the initiated to enter into the mysteries. 



He is led to a path which is adorned with the marks of a 

 stringent tabu, and here it is made known that this tabu is here- 

 after not binding upon him. By tortuous ways, winding in and 

 out through the dense canebrake, the path leads to a large house 

 screened from sight in every direction. Before the house and, 

 indeed, all around it, is planted a stockade with one gate. Here 



VOL. XXXTIII. 17 



