59 
plete, and they return for the blood-drinking “Lerribug,” and are 
met, when about half-a-mile from the camp, by all the men of the 
tribe. These have belts that have been prepared for each of the 
lads, including the newly circumcised boy. These belts are composed 
of bark, bound round with string made of human hair. Two large 
troughs of bark are placed side by side, over which the lads recline; 
all the men then puncture their own arms by means of a kangaroo 
bone, and their blood soon spurts all over the lads until they are 
covered with blood. Some of the men faint from loss of blood, but 
they soon recover. The blood which has flowed into the bark 
troughs is now congealed and is eaten by all. The troughs are then 
turned over and an imposing song is sung round them, after which 
the whole company return to the camp singing. 
In the corroborees in connection with these initiations, a circular 
arrangement is used, the old men fully armed, sitting in the centre 
and the children encircling them, while the women are in a circle 
outside of them, with men fully armed beyond them. This order 
was probably symbolical, but the present day islanders can explain 
nothing, not even the words of the songs they sing. 
These ceremonies include the knocking out of two teeth from 
the upper jaw, and circumcision when about fourteen years of age, 
and sub-incision in the following year or less; during the interval 
the probationer is not allowed to eat fish. 
There is also blood drinking two or three times a year, when 
the arms are ligatured and the veins pierced, and the blood is 
caught in bark troughs as above described. An extension of the 
sub-incision is made at least once a year afterwards, apparently 
out of sympathy with the new novitiate. 
The islanders thoroughly believe in the power of evil thoughts, 
the practice of which they call “kowedan . n To carry out this 
mischief, a number of men will select a sandy spot and scoop out 
a hole in the sand and form it in the centre into a rude represen- 
tation of a man whom they wish to affect; they then sing a curious 
chant, and the individual represented develops a fever, but if he 
realises that he is being bewitched, he calls for water, which is 
sprinkled over him, and this is said to break the charm. Rain or 
dew is also said to render a charm ineffective. Spirits of those who 
have departed this life are called “Ngyries,” and the aborigines are 
very much afraid of them. They have a dim knowledge of a place 
called “Loomern,” where spirits dwell, and point to the westward 
as its position. 
The mode of burial of the dead is to place the body ( n a plat- 
form in a tree, and reclining on its side, with the head to the 
south and face to the east; after the body has remained there till 
thoroughly decomposed, a party of men light a huge fire beneath, 
bringing the body and frame to the ground and reducing the body 
to ashes; these are gathered and put away into a crevice in a rock 
