THE ABORIGINES OP AUSTRALIA. 7 



world, and on the completion of his novitiate, when he returns 

 to his kindred, he pretends to forget all his past life and to 

 know neither father nor mother, nor relations nor former 

 friends, his is a new life ; his whole aspect is that of a 

 new man, for he now carries on his head a cap made of the 

 bark of a tree, he is adorned with feathers, and as a badge of 

 his new rank he wears a collar of leopards' teeth round his 

 neck. During the five years of his training the probationer 

 is attended by some old and experienced devotees who act as 

 his instructors ; they teach him the ritual of their religion, 

 various songs and pieces of poetry, mostly in praise of their 

 chief god, and, in particular, he learns from them a dance of 

 a frenzied kind. While this course of education is proceeding, 

 the king frequently visits the groves ,nd examines the can- 

 didates. When their training is sufficiently advanced, they 

 receive each a new name, and, as a token of their regeneration, 

 several long wounds, which afterwards become permanent 

 scars, are made on their neck and shoulders. They are now 

 conducted to some retired place at a distance where women 

 may attend them. Here, their religious education being 

 already complete, they are instructed in those principles of 

 morals and politics which will make them useful as members 

 of the state, and fit to act as judges in civil and criminal 

 causes. This done, they leave the groves and their tutors, 

 and, with their new badges of perfection upon them, they 

 exhibit their magical powers in public by means of a stick 

 driven into the ground, with a bundle of reeds at its top, or 

 they repair to the public assembly, and join in the solemn 

 dances of the wise men or in the duties of civic rulers. 



The aboriginal races of India also have observances similar 

 to those of the African negroes ; for I learn from a lecture 

 delivered last year in this hall that, among some of the 

 Dravidian tribes of Central India, " persons desiring to enter 

 the priesthood are required to retire for some days to the 

 jungle and commune in solitude with the deity. Before they 

 are confirmed in their office, they are expected to perform 

 some marvellous act as evidence of their having acquired 

 superhuman power." In another tribe, the novice " retires 

 " to the jungle, and there remains alone and without clothing 

 for eight days, during which time he performs certain puri- 

 ficatory rites. On the eighth day he returns and enters upon 

 the discharge of his duties."* 



So far the negroes of Upper Guinea. I now turn to 

 Australia ; and there, when a boy approaches the age of 

 puberty, a feeling of restless anticipation spreads over hi$ 



* Transactions Victoria Institute, vol. xix., pp. 103, 104. 



