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drawn „Coo-ce w is uttered by the messenger. On this being answered from the 

 camp, the men follow their conductor to the council-place, while the woraen 

 proceed to encamp. The spot which they occupy is on that side of the general 

 encampment which faces in the direction of their country. Meanwhile the men 

 have sat down at the council-place, and after a silence the headman of the newly 

 arrived contingent and the headman of the people who receive it, converse, and 

 it may be that all the old men consult together. The arrival is often arranged 

 to be about nightfall. 



The next proceeding is for all the men present an the council-place to 

 run in a long winding line from it to the general camp. The line is headed by 

 one the old men, or sometimes by the „sister's husbands" of the novices. Each 

 man holds a bough in his hand, which is Struck rythmically from side to side 

 as the long line winds stamping forward with deep guttural exclamations of Huh! 

 Wah! The signal for the start of this snake-like procession is given by the last- 

 arrived messenger, who draws out his concealed „mudji", and swinging it causes 

 it to make a loud roaring noise. So soon as this is heard the men commence 

 their winding course, and the women start up in the camp, roll their rugs, and 

 commence to drum and to sing the „tooth song", which is intended to cause the 

 novice's teeth to come out easily. The procession of men is by this time winding, 

 stamping, and shouting „Hah ! Wah!" through the entire encampment, visiting each 

 separate hut, and, as I may say, gathering the women and children into a clear 

 space outside of it. Here the women and children crowd together, while the men 

 dance round them in more than even double fold, if the line is long enough. 

 One of the men now Starts forward, shouting londly the name of the locality 

 of the newly arrived contingent, which is hai led with shouts by the men, who 

 then silently raise their boughs over the womens heads towards the sky. In this 

 way a number of the most distant localities from which there are people present 

 are pronounced — not only to the assembled Community in words, but by the 

 upward pointed gesture with bough, boomerang, or finger, to the Great Master ; 

 for this is the gesture-sign by which these tribes indicate the name of the 

 dreaded Spirit, which it is not lawful to speak before the uninitiated, or in 

 places where it is not sanctioned by the Performance of these ceremonies, which 

 he first instituted and taught to his people. 



After this ceremony the evening is spent in singing and dancing for the 

 general amusement. 



When all the contingents have arrived the Council of old men determines 

 the day on which the great ceremonies shall be held. These are commenced by 

 a stamping, winding procession as before, but this time the women and children 

 are not only closely crowded together, but crouch on the ground, and those 

 women whose sons are to be initiated are placed in front of the group. The men 



