34 ABORIGINAL CUSTOMS IN NOKTH QUKKNSLAND. 



It has been said that some of these tribes have agnartic descent ; 

 but I now think this is very doubtful. 



The following are few totems common among some of the 

 tribes referred to : — Flying-fox, native companion, black duck, 

 grass, eagle-hawk, plain turkey, iguana, carpet snake, whistling 

 duck, black snake, tiger snake, pelican, crow, whip snako, emu, 

 jackass, opossum, magpie, red kangaroo, porcupine, bandicoot, 

 kangaroo rat. Descent being reckoned on the side of the mother, 

 if she is, for example, a native companion, all her sons and 

 daughters will be native companions. 



Imitation Ceremonies. I — Among these tribes the imitation 

 ceremonies are similar in their fundamental principles to other 

 ceremonies I have described in New South AVales, but many of 

 the details differ considerably. When it is found that there are 

 a sufficient number of boys old enough to be admitted to 

 the status of tribesmen, messengers are sent throughout the 

 community to ascertain the wishes of the different head men, 

 and Avhen they all agree among themselves which tribe is to 

 take the initiative in calling the people together, the head man 

 of the tribe so selected sends out some of his own men as 

 messengers to invite the neighbouring tribes. Each of these 

 m(>ssengers is pi'ovided with a small buUroarer, and a few articles 

 of a uuin's attire, perhaps he carries the club, Ijoomerang or 

 w(M)iiu>rfi of his chief, to serve as his credentials. 



In due course, the tribes so invited start for the general 

 meeting place, and on arriving there they are accorded a formal 

 reception. When all the invited tribes have mustered at the 

 main camp, h day is set apart for taking the novices away to be 

 initiated. After a nnmbc-'r of prt'liminaries similar in character 

 to those described by me elsewlu'i-e, the boys are led away ^ith 

 their heads bowed, to an oval enclosure or yard, the dimensions 

 of wbicb ftre nliout Ho feet l)y 20 feet, but it varies in size according 

 to the number of people to l)e accommodated. It is bounded by a 

 row of hi'^'h stakes standing nearly upright, and is open at one 

 end ; some of the stakes at the back part of the enclosure are 

 about tAvice the height of a man, but they get shorter towards the 



I See my papers on the " Bora of the Kaniilaroi Tribes," Proc. Roy. Soc. Victoria, 

 ix N.H., 13fi--17a. "Thf Bnvbuii^nf the Wiradthiiri Tribes," Jourii. Anthrop. Inst., xxv, 

 295—311?; xxTi, 272— 2sr.. 



