PBESIDENTIAL ADDRESS— SECTION G. 347 



One of the most remarkable facts brought out by the com- 

 parison of initiation ceremonies is the universahty of the use 

 in them, or in connection with them, of a wooden instrument, 

 which is a child's toy in England, and which is there known as 

 the " bullroarer." As I remember to have made and used one as 

 a child, it is about Sin. in length by Sin. in width, and, when 

 whirled round at the end of a cord, caused a loud humming or 

 roaring sound. Throughout Australia, so far as my investiga- 

 tions have extended, it is one of the most sacred and secret 

 objects appertaining to the ceremonies. It is not permitted to 

 women and children — I may say, to the uninitiated generally — 

 to see it, under pain of death. The novices were told that if they 

 made it known to women and children their punishment would 

 be death, either by actual violence or by magic. So secret was 

 this object kept among the Kumai that, intimately as I was 

 acquainted with them, it was not exhibited to me at their bora 

 until the old men had been fully satisfied that I had been pre- 

 sent at one of their neighbours' — the Murring — and that I had 

 there seen it, had become acquainted with its use, and, more 

 convincingly, that I had possession of one which had been used 

 in their ceremonies. The reverential awe with which one of 

 these sacred objects is viewed by the initiated, when carried 

 round to authenticate the message calling a ceremonial 

 assembly, is most striking. I have observed it not merely once 

 but many times, and cannot feel any doubt about the depth of 

 the feeling of reverence in the minds of the aborigines in regard 

 to it. A peculiar sacredness is attached to it for several 

 reasons, among which the principal are that it is taught that the 

 first one was made by the supernatural being who first insti- 

 stituted the ceremonies, aiid the roar emitted by it when in use 

 is his voice calling upon those assembled to perform the rites. 

 It is the voice of Baiame, Daramulgun, Mungau, however he 

 may be called in the several languages, but in those tribes with 

 whose ceremonies I have acquaintance he is also more 

 familiarly called "our Father." The universality of its use, 

 and under the same conditions, in world-wide localities, is one 

 of the most puzzling questions in this branch of anthropology, 

 and can only, as it seems to me, point to tlie extreme anti- 

 quity of its use. As I have said, it is universally used in Aus- 

 tralia. Its use is recorded at the native courts of Africa, whore 

 it is called " the voice of Oro." The Maoris, the Zulus, the 

 Navajoes use it in their ceremonies, and it has been pointed 

 out by Andrew Lang that its use in the Dionysian mysteries 

 is clearly indicated by a passage in the scholiast to Clemens of 

 Alexandria. In his interesting chapter on the bullroarei- in 

 " Custom and Myth," Mr. Lang well says that in all probability 

 the presence of this implement in Greek mysteries was a sur- 

 vival from the time "when the Greeks were in the social con- 



