242 



and threats, the latter referring to their magic powers. These 

 are the principal means whereby the aged and the sorcerers 

 attempt to attain and retain respect and authority, and do gain 

 it. The respect, which is paid them by the women and the 

 younger members, is based on a belief that they do possess magic 

 powers. Notwithstanding all this, it happens that widows do 

 marry their favorites, and follow their own inclination, especially 

 if the legitimate bridegroom does not possess the physical strength 

 to compel compliance, such as being blind, lame, <kc. Also, in 

 arranging for feasts, the aged are priviliged, and are the principal 

 organisators of such. 



7. Religion. 



The well-known festivals or dances of the natives, called by 

 them tjumnga and ildnda, are ordered and arranged by the old 

 people. Each one of these has one or more of these tjurunga as 

 his special privilege or monopoly. This right does not pass to his 

 sons as an inheritance. When one of these ancients wishes to 

 celebrate his tjurunga he consults with the others, and then mes- 

 sengers are sent by him to the neighbours, inviting them to attend 

 at his tjurunga. The invitations are delivered by young men, 

 wdio ornament themselves in the peculiar manner, explained above, 

 and which renders them at once recognisable as messengers. In 

 the meantime the men at home secretly prepare themselves suit- 

 ably for the occasion, as no woman or child must see anything 

 of it. The old man whose tjurunga it is orders everything to the 

 best of his ability ; he alone is supposed to possess the requisite 

 knowledge or original inspiration. Thus one of them owns the 

 ilia tjurunga^ or emu festival ; another the jarimba tjurunga, or 

 fish festival, Arc. These festivals are no mere pleasure-bouts, but 

 serve another purpose, and have a religious significance. Their 

 proper basis, I believe, is worship, or, more correctly, idolatrous 

 service, and a consideration of the whole surroundings points to 

 this conclusion. It must be mentioned here that the natives pos- 

 sess small disks of slate and wood, about as large as the hand, 

 called tjurunga arknanoa (festival plates), which are secreted in 

 caves, and which neither woman nor child nmst see. Upon these 

 various markings are engraved, which the respective old D3an to 

 whom they belong alone understands, describing the whole mean- 

 ing of his tjurunga, as to its origin and purport. They pretend 

 that these tjurunga arknanoa were altjira — that is, were not made 

 — but I suspect, as they occasionally give some to white people, 

 that the old men and sorcerers make them themselves. They also 

 present some occasionally to the young men, and initiate them 

 gradually into the whole secret meaning, and finally, I believe, 

 into the whole system of deception. No one, however, ever re- 

 veals the fact, although one may read it in their faces. Why 



