72 Proceedmrjs of the Royal Socief>/ of Victoria. 



Tuljuan or Dukduk. It often happens that a man, angry 

 with his wife, wives, or female relations, dons the dress 

 himself, and appears before them as the Tubuan to receive 

 " tabu " to appease the angry person, or he may get someone 

 else to do this for him. 



The Dukduk is generally admitted to have originated at 

 Cape Gazelle, and it has been suggested by natives that it 

 was begun by thieves, who thus disguised themselves for 

 plunder. Being found lucrative, it was adopted by others, 

 and so spread from place to place, the privilege of being- 

 allowed to practise it being paid for. During our residence 

 here, we have known a town to thus purchase it for several 

 hundreds of fathoms of " tabu," the vendor initiating and 

 instructing the purchaser ; and in another case, where the 

 purchaser did not conduct it properly, the neighbouring 

 associations enforced a fine upon him. The irregularity in this 

 case, was that of allowing women to cross a part of the tareu. 

 A very old man tells me that it did not exist here when he 

 was a boy, but others think he is mistaken, so the date of its 

 origin is obscure. Its present object is certainly to acquire 

 " tabu," while it affords general amusement, and provides 

 liberal feasts for the members. The shell-money is got from 

 initiatory fees, fines, and renumeration for tabooing fruit 

 trees, &c., as a protection against thieving. 



Tlie association is worked thus : — It is started by a person 

 or number of persons becoming members and purchasing the 

 right from an existing one, which instructs the novices. 

 These promotors receive all the profits, i.e., the income minus 

 the working expenses, as of feasts and workmen. Any male 

 may become a member by paying the initiatory contribution, 

 which is large or small, according to his means, or those of 

 his relatives ; it varies from ten to one hundred fathoms of 

 " tabu." Candidates generally give as much as possible, in 

 order to be well esteemed in society. There are generally a 

 great many initiated at one time. They are introduced into the 

 tareu b}' a member of the society, where a great many men 

 are sitting around the clear space in the centre. On their 

 entering, the Tubuan, to whom they are introduced before 

 the Dukduk, smacks them with "her" hand or a stick, which 

 is a signal for the spectators to rush upon them and assault 

 them in the same way, so that they are often very severely 

 treated, the juveniles excepted. Their friends then pay the 

 contribution for initiation to the Tubuan, which varies from 

 ten to twenty fathoms of shell-money ; subsec^uently, they 



