172 RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



four performers would particularly play the part, all the others 

 circling around in Indian file and playing chorus ; it is the busi- 

 ness of the latter to shout in unison, to keep time with the 

 stamping of the feet and the clapping of the hands laterally. 

 The shouting is nearly all " au ! au ! au ! " hardly any words 

 being actually spoken, the whole performance being what we 

 should almost call ''dumb show." Among the performances so 

 gone through are the dances relative to the native companion 

 (invariably the initial one as already mentioned), owl, pheasant, 

 body-louse (PI. liv., fig. 1), black palm (PI. lv.), frog, a 

 certain fresh-water fish, mosquito, crab, honey, kangaroo, 

 dog running after a lizard, fresh-water mussel (PI. lvi.), 

 stone-fish, alligator, eel, and flying-fox (with the blacks all 

 hanging by their legs from the branches of the trees around), 

 these three coming on just before the snake-dance, which closes 

 the whole rite. As can be imagined, only some two or three of 

 these dances can be performed daily, the more enjoyable ones 

 bearing repetition longer than others. Thus, beyond the change 

 of repertoire, the ceremony proceeds from day to day with but 

 slight, if any, variations. 



The scene opens daily as follows :— Say the time for the after- 

 noon show has arrived, some of the pprfouners may be resting in 

 the low bush-fence, or elsewhere, outside the boral, when the 

 guardian will bring up his wards from the spot where they have 

 been camped and lead them into the central rut where they squat 

 down one behind the other. The performers next take up their 

 position around the boral (as in PI. liv., fig. 2, where the low bush- 

 fence can be recognised in the intervals of legs) and circle round 

 the rut same three or four times in Indian file, shouting, stamping, 

 and clapping as they go. When this is over, some of the other 

 performers rush into the cleared area from the northern aspect, 

 each stopping suddenly in front of the novices and pretending to 

 let fly a spear at them, but the latter sit motionless. Leaving 

 their spears in the bush-fence, these late arrivals join the other 

 performers, one of whom drags each novice in turn by the hair 

 of the bead out of the rut, which he is not allowed to touch, and 

 leads him to the edge of the circle. 



The following are some notes concerning the dances already 

 referred to : — 



(a) Body-louse(Pl.liv.,fig 1). Here are represented threecentral 

 figures with some of the others dancing and skipping around. Of 

 tin; three central ones, the performer on the left is just in the 

 act of putting into his mouth the vermin caught, while he on the 

 right is looking for more, the centre one having his head pulled 



