308 R, H. MATHEWS. 



bull roarer and other emblems of bis authority, and tells 

 them the time and place of the general assembly. Two 

 men are generally sent together, for the sake of company, 

 but the one who is charged with the message is generally 

 of the same totem as the sender, and he delivers it to a 

 man of that totemic family in the tribe which he has been 

 directed to muster. Moreover, it is indispensable that the 

 messenger shall be a man who has passed through all the 

 inaugural rites of his tribe. 



The messenger remains with this tribe until the time 

 arrives to start for the appointed meeting place. All the 

 men, women, and children are then mustered up, and the 

 journey commences. When they reach a point within a 

 few miles of the main camp, a halt is made, and they paint 

 their bodies with coloured clays in accordance with the 

 style customary in their tribe, after which the journey is 

 resumed — the men in the lead, with the women and children 

 following. On the approach of the strangers, the men of 

 the local mob, together with the men of previous contin- 

 gents who have arrived at the main camp, stand outside 

 the guanga circle, with their weapons in their hands. The 

 new arrivals march on in single file in a meandering line, 

 carrying their boomerangs. They enter the ring and march 

 round and round until they are all within it in a spiral fold, 

 with the novices whom they have brought with them in 

 the centre. The women and children, with leaves in their 

 hands, are standing in close proximity. The headmen now 

 call out the names of camping-places, hills, water-holes, 

 totemic animals and so on, in their native country. The 

 names of shady trees, blossoming and fruit trees, are also 

 mentioned. The men likewise call out the names of the 

 genitalia of both sexes. While they are making these 

 proclamations, they point their boomerangs towards their 

 own country, and stamp their feet. 



