1897] INITIATION RITES OF THE ARUNTA TRIBE 123 
decorated piece of wood which he held upright, and slowly and 
steadily knocked on the ground. At each side of him another old 
man sat holding his wrist, and assisting in this wearisome work, 
which, with most remarkable endurance, was kept up without a 
pause from half-past nine at night till about five next morning. 
The number of candidates was very large, there being more than 
a hundred who were initiated. On the day following the final 
ceremony took place, the men crossing over to the women’s camp, 
and each kneeling on a fire there. 
Concluding Notes—Each of the old men who were directing 
operations had men of his own totem under his charge, and for 
their proper initiation he was responsible. During the whole 
period of nearly four months they were not allowed to speak to 
him. At the conclusion of the rites they had to bring him some 
food-offering, such as cooked wallaby, and begged him to make them 
speak. He then touched their lips, and the ‘ban of silence was 
removed, 
A good deal of the significance of many of the ceremonies has 
probably been lost, but their main object seems to have been to test 
the endurance of the young men, and to teach them the past 
history of the tribe, while the possession of a knowledge of the 
correct method of procedure by the old men, who practically formed 
a council for the administration of the whole series of rites, would 
naturally cause them to be held in high esteem. 
As this ceremony is only performed at intervals of many years, 
it is more than likely that, with the advance of the white man, the 
present may be the last occasion on which it will be performed with 
the completeness in which it was witnessed by Professor Spencer 
and Mr Gillen. The results so laboriously obtained are conse- 
quently of peculiar value. 0. 
