HORN EXPEDITION — NARRATIVE. 35 



nose is pierced, and tlirougli the opening made a Icjng piece of bone — porliaps a 

 foot in Icni^'th and with a Peragale tail-tip stuck into one end — is often woi'n. 



Except for perhaps an armlet or necklet, the women liave usually no orna- 

 ments or dress. 



When preparing for a corrobJioi-ee they <irnament themselves — that is, the men 

 do, as the adornment of the V)ody is almost entirely confined to tlie male .sex — with 

 patterns made by stripes and spots of white, red, yellow and pink. 



The term corrobboree is usually applied indiscriminately liy white people to 

 any one of the so-called dances of the aborigines ; but there are in realily at least 

 two vei-y distinct classes of corrobborees or, as they are called by the ATcDonnell 

 blacks themselves, "quapara." C)iie set may be called ordinary corrobborees, 

 such as are held at any time, and which women and cliildren may watch ; but in 

 addition to these there is another and a very distinct series, which may be spoken 

 of as sacred quapara, which no woman or child is permitted to se(^, and which 

 are intimately connected with certain Totemic subdivisions of the tribe, members 

 of which alone can take part in them, though members of others, pi'ovided they 

 have undergone; the ceremonies admitting tlieni to manhood, are allowed to watch 

 wholly or in part. Intimately associated with these are the sacred stones and 

 sticks which have been referred to in the Anthropological section by Mr. Gillen 

 and Dr. Stirling. The sacred nature of the implement lesembling the toy 

 connnonly known as a "bull-roarer" is well known. It consists of a small 

 Hatt(!ned piece of wood, usually pointed at each end and with a hole bored through 

 one to which a string can lie fastened, the roai-ing oi- humming sound being made 

 liy the vibrati(m of the latter when it is tightly stretched by having one end 

 held in the hand while the bull-roarer attached to the other is i-apidly whirled 

 round. 



No woman or child is ever allowed to .see one of these, and should one be 

 caught sight of by accident and the fact be known to the men, the punishment in 

 the natural condition of the aborigines would be death, or at least blinding by 

 means of a fire-stick. These implements, which, according to Mr. Gillen, are 

 known as "churina," are very highly prized and regarded as sacred. Stone ones arc 

 still more valuable and sacred than the wooden ones, which are usually spoken of 

 as " Irula," the patterns on which are copied from the older stones, the history 

 and origin of which are lost in the dim past. 



Each division of the trilie has a certain numlxn- of Churina, which are stored 

 up in spots known only to the elder men, oi', if the loc-dity of tlw^ store bi' known 



