148 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 



The youth who is as yet spoken of as Ulpmerka, that is an 

 uncircuincised boy, sits down amongst the men while the women 

 who have been awaiting his ra*rival at once begin to dance, 

 carrying shields in their hands. The reason assigned for this 

 is that, in the Alcheringa, certain women called Unthippa 

 carried along with them, as they travelled over the country, 

 a number of young boys who were just being initiated. As 

 they travelled along they also carried shields, dancing the whole 

 time, and therefore it is that, at the pi'esent day, the initiation 

 ceremony must commence with an imitiation of the Unthippa 

 dance of the Alcheringa. Except upon this one occasion women 

 never carry shields, which are exclusively the pi'operty of the men. 

 While the women are dancing the men sing of the marching 

 of the Unthippa women across the country, and after the boy 

 has watched and listened for some little time his head is covered 

 with strands of fur string so as to give it the appearance of 

 being encased in a tightly fitting skull cap. A large Uliara, or 

 human-hair girdle, is also placed round his waist by a man who 

 is Gammona, that is mother's brother to him, the girdle itself 

 being provided by a man wlio is Okuia^ or "father" of the boy. 



When this has been done a consultation of the men who are 

 Oknia and Okilia to the boy is held, and certain other men are 

 told off by them to take the boy away and paint him. These 

 n)en are always afterwai'ds cnlled Wutya oi* Wilya by the boy. 

 After the consultation is over they go away and, first of all, 

 build a brake of bushes at the western end of the Apulia, after 

 which they return and, taking the boy, lead him through the 

 dancing women to the brake, whei'e some time is spent in 

 greasing his body and decorating him with a pinkish coloured 

 clay and lines of bird's down. When this is over the Wilya 

 men tell the boy that he is no longer an Ulpmerka but is now 

 a Wurtja, that during the proceedings about to follow, he must 

 render implicit obedience and on no account must he ever tell 

 any woman or boy anything of what he is about to see. tShould 

 he ever reveal any of the secrets both he and his closest relations 

 will surely die. He is not to speak until spoken to and even 



1 It iiiiist be reiiiemViered that we have no equivalent expressions in English for the 

 native terms of relationship ; thus, for example, Oknia includes not only the man whom 

 we call father hut also all the men who were elijfihle as husbands for the boj"s mother. 



