158 Proref'di i((j>i of tie' Roijal Socicfi/ of Victor la . 



Wfininga c;ii riers standing close by and the men at the brake 

 singing of the "Waninga and of the walking of the Illuta in the 

 Alcheringa. Then the AVurtja is told to lie down again and his 

 head is covered over, the usual instructions and cautions being 

 given to him. During this time another ceremony is being- 

 prepared of a simple description as no decor-ation is used. The 

 men occupy the time in singing about a party of Alcheringa 

 individuals who started to walk from a place called Ayaiya. 

 After the singing has gone on for about an hour the Wurtja is told 

 to look up and he sees a number of men lying about the Apulia 

 ground ; as he looks up they begin to hop about and to utter the 

 sounds made by kangaroos. One old man in particular is notice- 

 able from the way in which he imitates the movements of an old 

 disabled animal. After hopping in and about the Apulia for 

 some minutes they bunch up together at the western end of the 

 ground and then suddenly rising with a loud shout of "pow, pow, 

 pow," they run away to a small gully out of sight of the Wurtja 

 who is told that these men rej3i'esent a painty of Alcheringa 

 kangaroo-men starting ofi' from Ayaiya. After this and while 

 further preparations are being made the Wurtja remains with 

 the audience but has his head covered. The tradition dealing 

 with this special group of kangaroos relates that the party split 

 into two, a larger and a smaller one, and that the larger one 

 travelled on ahead of the other one. When preparing for the 

 ceremony the bodies are first of all rubljed all over with red 

 ochre, then two young men open veins, first in one arm and then 

 in the other, and allow the blood to flow out in a stream over the 

 heads and bodies of the men who are about to perform. The 

 latter who are ten in number are then ornamented with little 

 patches of down but, unlike the usual plan of ornamentation, 

 there is no regular pattern made, the i-eason for this being that 

 the Alcheringa men had not used any legular pattern. 



When all are ready, they go, with the exception of three who 

 stay behind, on to the Apulia walking in single file and carrying 

 twigs of Eucalyptus in their hands. When they reach the 

 ground a young man who leads the column and represents a 

 young and frolicsome kangaroo which, according to tradition, 

 accompanied the marchers, lies down sideways across the entrance 

 to the path with his back turned towards the Wurtja. The 



