THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 69 



branches, and is used by the aboriginals for a curious purpose. 

 In one of the ceremonies attending admittance of their youths to 

 the privilege of manhood, a tooth is taken from each candidate, 

 and these teeth are fastened together by means of this bark. A 

 thoroughly reliable eye-witness gave me the following graphic 

 account of the ceremony : — 



In a secluded valley were assembled all the adult males of the 

 tribe, together with many witnesses from, other tribes. Three 

 days had already been spent in various mystic rights. It was 

 midnight. The flames from the various fires round the central 

 scene hardly dispelled the darkness, while the feeble glimmer of 

 those fires at a distance just served to bring into relief the dusky 

 iorms of the natives, making a striking contrast with the white- 

 ness of the huge gum-trees, by which they were surrounded. 

 The candidates — eight in number — were fine-looking youngsters, 

 ranging from seventeen to twenty-one years of age, but they 

 looked tired, wretched-looking objects after their long fasting and 

 many trials, and now the last scene was to be performed, 

 after which they could lie down and rest. The oldest 

 warrior in the tribe advanced slowly towards the first victim, who 

 was held firmly by two natives iii full corroboree dress, which is 

 the same as Mexican full dress, minus the pair of spurs and 

 necktie. In his hand he bore a short truncheon ; and, the mouth 

 of the neophyte being kept open by the attendants, he pro- 

 ceeded solemnly to strike out the third tooth from the front by 

 repeated blows from his weapon. Four or five knocks generally 

 effected this object, but sometimes the tooth was so firm 

 that it required eight or nine blows before it came out. 

 Unlike the American Indians, who, we are told, bear the most 

 exquisite tortures in silence, the young aborignals made night 

 hideous with their howling. After the ceremony the chief tied 

 the teeth carefully together with the bark of this plant (jPzm^//a 

 axiflord), and presented the treasure to the chief warrior from 

 another tribe who was present. As the bark of this particular 

 shrub only must be used, the natives have often to travel a 

 considerable distance to obtain it. 



Rambling further up our gully, we see here and there 

 huge trunks of trees, which, after falling, slide down from 

 the heights above, and now lie decaying under overhanging 

 verdure. One of these logs is a study in itself. I have 

 counted over twenty different kinds of mosses, ferns, and 

 lichens, and fungi growing on the same trunk. I'he smaller 

 vegetable forms are particularly interesting, and everyone who 

 wishes to study them ought to be provided with a pocket lens. 

 Take a piece of moss, for instance. li you look carefully you 

 will perceive, growing amongst the green leaves of the plant, a 

 number of elongated, egg-shaped bodies perched on the top of 



