182 RECOkDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



in days gone by, are believed to have driven the Blacks on 

 their different peregrinations. They are covered with strips of 

 tea-tree bark, each from two and a half to three feet in length, 

 fixed into a top-string or rather rope so as to form what may be 

 described as a huge "corner-fringe" (the upholsterer's term) quite 

 nine or ten yards long. Starting at the waist, this fringe is 

 wound round and round the individual from below up over his 

 arms and covering him, except for the face, in his entirety. Over 

 the face is worn a mask, formed of an oblong piece of tea-tree 

 bark, on which is painted a red cross over a white back-ground ; 

 two eye-holes are inserted in the horizontal limb of the cross. 

 The mask is kept in position by means of three finely pointed 

 small spears upon which, here and there, some blobs of feather- 

 down are stuck ; these bits of down can be recognised as the 

 white spots above the mask on the right hand figure. The spears 

 themselves, the alkir, have some important signification, and give 

 the name to this particular rite. At another stage of the pro- 

 ceedings (PI. liii., fig. 2) the Amboiba assumes a kneeling position, 

 his face uncovered and the mask fixed in between the spears over 

 his head ; he thus remains immovable for some considerable time, 

 while certain explanations and injunctions are given to the novice 

 by a third party, for an Amboiba never speaks. While the 

 latter's faces are uncovered, and only so long as this lasts, a hand 

 is placed over the novice's eyes, so that he should see nothing of 

 the change being made in the accoutrements by the crows. The 

 special injunctions given to the novice are that for the whole of 

 the coming season (i.e., practically a twelvemonth), the shortest 

 time before which an opportunit} r can prevent itself for his taking 

 the sixth or final degree, he must not give either to his own, or any 

 other, women, or his children, any (small-bee) honey, eels, large 

 iguana, barramundi, or red bream. Should he happen to catch 

 any of these animals, etc., on his travels, and not require them for 

 himself, he must give them to the elder men only. On the other 

 hand, supposing the women can obtain any of these things 

 through their own personal exertions, which is almost impossible 

 for them to do, they are allowed to eat them provided they do 

 not happen to be tabu to them individually. 



When the change of dress had been made, and the novices 

 taken away, the dressers unwound the tea-tree bark from the 

 Amboiba, a signal that the main portion of the ceremony had 

 come to a close. The sun had now set well below the horizon, 

 the enveloping darkness was becoming very pronounced, and soon 

 the further side of the screen was deserted, the participants and 

 myself returning to the main camp. 



