294 Wisconsin Academy of Science'sArts, and Letters. 
ceremony is to be performed, the men assemble at the main 
camp, and those who are to take part in the ceremony go away 
quietly. Every man leaves all weapons behind him, for all 
must go quiet, unarmed and without any decoration of any 
kind. Even the hair girdle, the one constant article of clothing 
Worn by the men, must be left in camp'. They all wlalk in 
single file except the Alatunja , who sometimes takes the lead 
and at other times walks by the side of the column to see that 
the line is kept. On no account ‘must any of the men, except 
the very old ones, eat any kind of food until the whole cere¬ 
mony is over. Anything that is caught in the way of game 
has to be handed over to the old men. They usually start for 
the special camping ground late in the afternoon, and remain 
there all night. At daylight the party begins to pluck twigs 
from the green trees at the mouth of Eimily Gap, and every 
man carries a twig in each hand except the Alatunja, who car¬ 
ries nothing save a small pit chi, or wooden trough, which is 
called Apmara. Walking again in single file, they follow 1 the 
path taken by the celebrated Intwailiuka, the great leader of 
the witchetty grubs in the Alcheringa} until they come to a 
shallow cave where a large block of quartzite lies, around which 
are some small rounded stones. The large block represents the 
adult witchetty grub and the small ones the young grubs. 
The Alatunja begins singing and taps the stone with his 
Apmara, while all the other men tap it with their twigs-, chant¬ 
ing songs as they do so, the burden of which is an invitation to 
the animal to lay eggs. Then they tap the small stones. 
Then the Alatunja takes up one of the small stones and strikes 
each man in the stomach with it, saying: “You have eaten 
much food.” Then he strikes each man in the Stomach with 
his forehead. Then they go away to the rock where Intwail¬ 
iuka used to cook, pulverize and eat the grub. The Alatunja 
strikes the rock with his Apmara, and each man does the same 
with his twigs, while the older men again chant invitations 
to the animals to come from all directions and lay eggs. At 
i The fabulous ancestral epoch. 
