302 NATURAL SCIENCE [November 
ments-—shape, and the finding of canoe alongside, this crannog 
differs in no way from other well-known ones in Ireland and else- 
where ; but in two respects it is absolutely unique: (1) as was 
stated above, in being situated on the shores of a tidal river; and 
(2) in the fact that, so far at any rate, none but implements of flint 
and bone have been discovered. This would throw its occupation 
back at least to the Neolithic period, whereas crannogs are usually 
associated with the Bronze Age, eg., the British lake village at 
Glastonbury yielded beautiful specimens of bronze fibulae and other 
articles. Details as to further finds will, therefore, be eagerly 
awaited by archaeologists. 
AUSTRALIAN INITIATION CEREMONIES 
Licut is gradually being let into the remarkable ceremonies of 
initiation that the young Australian has to pass through before he 
is admitted to the secrets of the tribe and regarded as a full member 
of it. Much has been published by the Horn Expedition, and by 
a recent Government publication, but Professor Baldwin Spencer and 
Mr F. J. Gillen have now given us the full details of these interest- 
ing ceremonies as performed by the Arunta tribe of Central Australia. 
Mr Gillen is a Sub-Protector of the aborigines, and so has special 
opportunities of observing, and much of what was glossed over by 
the earlier observers is now carefully related and explained. Ex- 
cepting, perhaps, one tribe, the Wotjo-balluk of the Wimmera 
district, Victoria, every Australian native has to undergo these 
ceremonies. In the case of the tribes inhabiting the east and 
south-eastern coastal districts of the continent, the ceremonies 
appear to be entirely distinct from those of the tribes of the central 
area, amongst whom they are very elaborate and spread over a long 
series of years, the first taking place at about the age of ten or 
twelve, whilst the final and most impressive one is not passed 
through until the black fellow has reached the age of at least 
twenty-five or even thirty. The ceremonies described in the 7rans- 
actions of the Royal Society of Victoria, vol. x. part 2, are four in 
number, and are (1) the Enchichichika and Alkirakiwuma, or 
painting and throwing the boy up; (2) Lartna or circumcision ; (3) 
Ariltha or subincision ; and (4) Engwurra or fire ceremony. One of 
the most noticeable features of the Arunta ceremonies is the absence 
of the knocking out of the teeth, but no doubt to-day much of the 
ceremony in various tribes has lost its old significance, and degener- 
ated or developed along different lines as the tribes separated from 
their original common centre. 
The Australian aborigines also form the subject of a paper by 
Mr Oliphant Smeaton this month in the Westminster Review, who 
deals with their curious legends. 
