62 



THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



to dream of "old-men kangaroos" sitting round his camp, he would take it as a kindly 

 warning of coming danger. One may be sure that the sorcerers are not induced to exercise 

 their powers without some material reward. They all demand payment in kind. Some of 

 their patrons give presents for favours received; others from fear of possible injuries. The 

 sorcerers are not particular, and will gladly take such uncousidered trifles as weapons, rags, 

 implements, and especially game. After a " fair" they come away loaded with gifts. It is difficult 

 to ascertain the manner in which the sorcerers qualify themselves to practise their profession 

 and to impose upon their fellow-blacks, for they surround themselves with profound mystery 

 as the augurs did in Home, though Macaulay naively wondered how two of them could meet 

 without laughing. The tribes have innumerable tales of the manner in which the powers of 

 magic are acquired. Some, as the Kurnai tribe, say that the ghosts of ancestors visit a 

 sleeping man and communicate to him the secrets of sorcery, or take him away with them 

 while his spirit wanders in dreams and complete his education in the distant spirit-world. 

 Other tribes believe that a man becomes a wizard by meeting a supernatural being, who lives 

 in hollows in the ground, and who opens the man's side and inserts therein quartz crystals 

 and other minerals by which he obtains his powers. 



Mr. K. H. Mathews has described (Journal of the Anthropological Institute] the 

 initiation ceremonies of certain Australian tribes. An old man, who appeared to be a wizard, 

 told him a curious legend connected with the initiation ceremonies of the Wiradthuri tribes 

 of New South Wales. The myth was as follows: A long time ago there was a gigantic 

 and powerful being, something between a blackfellow and a spirit, called Dhuramoolan, who 

 was one of Baiame's people. His voice was awe-inspiring and resembled the rumbling of 

 distant thunder. At a certain age the boys of the tribes were handed over to this god, in 

 order that he might take them away into the bush and instruct them in all the laws, 

 traditions, and customs of the community, to qualify them to sit on councils, and discharge 

 all the duties and obligations devolving upon them as tribesmen. He pretended to Baiame 

 that he always killed the boys, cut them up and burned them to ashes, and then restored 

 them to human shape again, as new beings doubtless much improved by the process. 



But not all the boys 

 came back to the 

 tribe, for at every 

 initiation ceremony 

 some of the candi- 

 dates died in the 

 bush. Dhuramoolan 

 said they had died 

 from natural causes; 

 but Baiame, becoming 

 uneasy at the loss of 

 so many of his young 

 men, and, suspecting 

 that something was 

 wrong, questioned 

 their companions. At 

 first they were afraid 

 to tell; but on being 

 compelled to speak 

 the truth, they said 

 that the missing boys 

 had been eaten by 

 Photo by Mr. Phiiii^] \_Bri*toi. Dhuramoolan. It was 



NATIVES OF RIVER ENDEAVOUR, NORTH QUEENSLAND. not trUC that the 



