Initiation Ceremonies, Arii/nta Tribe. 173 



artha" while all shout loudly " tirra, tirra, tirra." When 

 within about fifty yards of the women who are dancing and 

 shouting as before, the men stop and the " Ii-koa-artha " leads 

 the Ertwa-kurka out but only accompanies him for a few yards, 

 after which he goes on alone carrying his shield in front of him 

 so as to hide his face, and when close to the women one or two 

 Ungaraitcha (elder sisters) who are in the lead carrying pitchis 

 (all the other women carry tufts of alpita in their hands), throw 

 the pitchis at his shield and then press their hands on his 

 shoulders from behind and also rub their faces on his back, 

 after which they cut oft' some locks of his hair which they 

 afterwards use to make up into hair-string ornaments for them- 

 selves. This ceremony is called " Anainthalilima," and after it 

 is over the Ertwa-kurka is free to go into the presence of the 

 various officials who have taken a special part in the ceremonies, 

 though he must not speak to or of them, nor must he speak 

 loudly in their presence for some months to come. 



The ceremonies concerned with this part of the proceedings 

 vary considerably in difterent parts of the tribe. In the south 

 for example the young Ertwa-kui'ka is always shown a sacred 

 ceremony of the " Akirra " or owl totem, on the night pi'eceding 

 the one on which he meets the women. 



At daylight on the morning of the next day the men provide 

 themselves with firestieks, and surrounding the young man 

 conduct him to the lubras who are again waiting to receive him. 

 The young man is fully decorated amd carries a shield and 

 boomerang and some twigs of Eremophila. When the party 

 is within a short distance of the lubi'as the men throw down 

 their firestieks and halt, and the young man steps out from the 

 centre of the group and throws his boomerang high up in the 

 direction of the spot at which his mother was supposed to have 

 lived in the Alcheringa.^ Then he is led forwards by the 



1 This throwin<f of the booinerang in the direction of the mother's Alcherin^;-a camp 

 occurs durinjj the perfonuance of other ceremonies such, for example, as those which 

 accompany the knocKiiig- out of teeth in eastern {groups of the Arunta tribe, and also in 

 the Ilpira tribe, and may be regarded as intended to symbolize the idea that the youiif; 

 man is enleriny; upon manhood and passing out of the control of the women and into the 

 ranks of the men. The fact that he is usiny: the boomeranj^ is indicative of this and his 

 throwinif it towards his mother's camp is an intimation to her of the fact that he is passing' 

 awav from her contiol. 



