IIORM EXPEDITION-ANTHROPOLOGY. 
175 
he is now entitled to take a principal part; he may take unto himself a wife, and 
in all probability one, perhaps two, have already been assigned to him. For two 
or three days he is the cynosure of all eyes—the most interesting figure in the 
camp. A corrobboree takes place every night, in which he takes part, and deeds 
of daring done by the most famous living warriors of the tribe are related for his 
benefit. He is carefully instructed in class laws, impressed with the dignity of 
his position as an ertwa kiirka, and henceforth he must only speak to such women 
of the tribe as are not of the tabooed classes; he must not even look in the 
direction of these. 
Until the rites of lartna and arrilta are performed a native is not allowed to 
have a wife ; this bar is, however, sometimes broken by natives in the employ of 
white men, who are, to a certain extent, in a position to defy tribal laws, but 
sooner or later they are bound to submit. No grown man can, for very long, put 
up with the sneers and contempt of his race, and such an offender is never 
permitted to take part in a corrobboree, nor will the men allow him to discuss 
trilial matters with them. I have never known a black with sufficient hardihood 
to hold out against the performance of these rites for more than a year or two. 
Quaapara op Coppobbopee. 
Under this head the ordinary dancing festivals, usually spoken of as corrob- 
borees, are referred to. The blacks, in addition to these, perform certain ceremonies 
regarded as sacred in character and associated with, for example, the promotion of 
the supply of certain food-plants and animals. These are performed at cei'tain 
times, and are of much greater significance than the ordinary corrobborees, which 
anyone is allowed to witness. Two of these ceremonies are described under 
separate headings. 
Ordinary quaaparas are held at a neutral ground specially chosen—generally 
at sense distance from the main camps—where all castes and both sexes may 
attend. Any locality may be chosen, but there ai’e certain favourite spots to which 
members of more than one group of a tribe may repair for corrobborees. 
The songs of this tribe, sung at the quaapara^ are merely a collection of 
sounds and cannot be translated. They have no actual meaning, but are merely a 
means of expressing such music as there is in the native mind. All quaaparas are 
supposed to be imparted in dreams. 
