Initiation Ceremonies, Arunta Tribe. 149 



then only in a subdued voice ; when left at his brake — that is 

 the one at which the painting has been done — he must always 

 crouch down and on no account attempt to see what the men 

 are doing. Should he try to see what is going on at the Apulia, 

 except when taken there and told to watch, some calamity will 

 happen to him — Twanyirika, the great spirit, whose voice is 

 heard when the bullroarers speak, will carry him away. When 

 these instructions have been given to him by the Wilya, some 

 Okilia come to him and repeat them over and over again. After 

 this he is left entirely alone behind his brake at the spot marked 

 X for an hour or two while the singing and dancing are continued 

 with vigour. Meanwhile the Oknia and Okilia again consult and 

 choose a man who is Mura to the boy to act as what is called 

 " Urinthaiitima." Towards daylight the boy, now called Wurtja, 

 is brought back to the men from his brake, passing through the 

 group of women who have not yet ceased dancing, and is placed 

 upon the lap of the Urinthantima m;in. 



The boy's mother has previously brought from her camp a 

 fire-stick which she is careful to keep alight all night. In the 

 early morning she lights a tire with this and then lights two long- 

 sticks with which she has provided herself. These she holds in 

 her hands as she sits behind the Urinthantima, one she hands to 

 the Tualcha-mura woman^ of the boy and the other she retains and 

 takes back with her to camp where she is most careful to guard it 

 constantly and to keep it alight. It is fixed into the ground at 

 an angle so as to catch the wind. The Wurtja guards his fire in 

 just the same way, and is cautioned by the men with him that if 

 he loses it or allows it to go out he and his mother will be killed 

 by Kurdaitcha. On the day on which he is led back to the 

 Apulia he throws away the tire-stick as also does his mother. 



While the men are singing a special tire song, the woman who 

 is Tualcha-mura to the boy approaches and ties round his neck 

 bands of fur-string after which she hands to him the tire-stick 

 which she has received from the boy's mother. The latter has 

 taken up a position along with the sisters of the boy's father 

 immediately behind the Urinthantima man. The woman tells 



1 The Tualcha-mura is the woman whose dauj^hter, horn or unborn, lias been allotted 

 to the boy as a future wife, so that she is potentially his mother-in-law. 



