Fire Ceremony of Central Australian Tribes. 27 



fire in a secluded spot amongst the ranges, and having placed 

 green boughs on the red-hot embers made the young men lie 

 down upon it, each one for perhaps three or four minutes, in the 

 stifling smoke and heat. This was undoubtedly, as the authors 

 can testify after trying the heat of the fire, at all events a very 

 unpleasant and rather severe ordeal. 



The third was less severe and will be described shortly. 



While the Ilpongwurra were out of camp the old men still 

 went on performing cei'emonies, reserving many of them, howeA^er, 

 for night-time, when, specially towards the end, there was little 

 rest to be had. Singing and ceremonies went on with little 

 intermission, often till two or three o'clock in the morning. The 

 ceremonies, though it is not necessary to describe them here, 

 were, it must be remembered, such as required elaborate prepara- 

 tion in the way of decorating the performers, and often occupied 

 in this way from three to six hours. 



Two days before the last ceremony was performed, under the 

 direction of the old man who had been in supreme charge 

 throughout, a small gum tree about twenty feet in height was 

 cut down and carried into camp. After being smeared all over 

 with human blood and having had the upper end decorated with 

 a tuft of eagle-hawk feathers, a chilarra or head-band worn 

 across the forehead by natives and a nose-bone, it was fixed 

 upright in the ground close to the Parra. On the last night all 

 the Ilpongwurra were brought in and after having lain for two or 

 three hours in a long line and in perfect silence, with each man's 

 head upon the Parra (this they did every night during the last 

 two weeks), they got up, and a number of small fires were made 

 round the base of the pole. The latter was called the Kau-aua 

 and is the most important and sacred ceremonial object of the 

 tribe. The whole of the night was spent in painting the backs 

 of the Ilpongwurra with various designs characteristic of different 

 totems, but the painting on each man had no relationship of 

 necessity to his own totem, and was always done by the old man 

 to whom he was apmurra. 



In the women's camp two large shallow holes were dug out, 

 each about two feet deep, and in these — by the Panunga and 

 Bultharra in one and by the Kumarra and Purula in the other — 

 fires were made. 



