Head-hunters, black, white, and brown

by Alfred C. Haddon

Umbalako of the Yaraikanna tribe, Cape York. About one-thirteenth natural size

In the afternoon they turned up with the promised bull-roarers. These were 5¼ inches in length and painted red, black, and white. There were no sticks as there should have been, so we supplied the men with a broken box-lid, a tomahawk, and a knife, and the omission was soon rectified. Whilst this was being done in an out-building, Sarah, the waitress, brought us out a cup of afternoon tea, and the natives deftly hid the bull-roarers. For a woman to see a bull-roarer would be a terrible sacrilege, and there was evident relief when the unsuspecting Sarah took her departure.

After taking their photographs we had a talk on their customs, and more particularly on their initiation ceremonies. When the boys have “little bit whiskers” they are taken into the bush about the end of the south-east monsoon, and the langa, as the lads are called, are isolated for a variable period lasting from a month to a year, apparently according to the age of each lad. Each langa is looked after by a mawara (his future brother-in-law) who anoints him with bush medicine in the hollow of the thigh (near the head of the femur), in the pits of the groin, the hollows above the collar-bones, the hollows of the temples, and at the back of the knee. This is done to make the boy grow.

During the period of seclusion the langa wears a short kilt; he is not allowed to talk nor play, and has to remain all the time in the tera, which corresponds with the kwod of the islanders.

At the end of the period the real ceremonies are held, in which all the men participate. The langa are painted red, white, and black in a fearsome manner and otherwise decorated.

In the Yampa ceremony the langa sit in front of a screen, which has somewhat of a horse-shoe shape; the men of the tribe are stationed a good way off behind the screen, and quite out of sight of the initiates. A tall post is erected within the inclosure, and a man climbs up this and addresses the people beyond, stating that the langa have been well looked after, and asking for food. The people then throw food to him while he is still up on the post, the food being tied up in palm leaves or in baskets. If the anachena fails to catch one of the bundles, he comes down the pole and another climbs up, and so each take their turn till all the food has been thrown.

The swinging and exhibition of the bull-roarer follows this ceremony, but of course no women or children are allowed to witness this. Finally a front tooth is knocked out, and then the lad is recognised as a man. A year later the okara, or test for endurance, supplemented the earlier ceremony of initiation.

At this stage of our talk Seligmann and I were called to dinner, but our four friends said they would return later, when it was dark, as they wanted to paint themselves up and show me exactly how the bull-roarer was swung before the langa, and which they said no white man had ever seen before.

After dinner Jimmy Matauri came for us, and we went with him to an open spot behind some sheds and houses. There were our four friends, with very little on in the way of clothing, but with their bodies variously lined with whiting which I had previously given them. They swung the bull-roarers first, circling them round their heads, and produced the ordinary buzzing noise. Then they rapidly turned, facing the opposite direction, and at the same time swung the bull-roarers horizontally with a sudden backward and forward movement of the hand, which made them give out a penetrating yelping “Bow-wow!” It was a weird sound, and extremely incongruous in an environment of corrugated iron sheds, and not far from a steam merry-go-round, with its grating machinery, discordant whistles, and monotonous music, blatantly making merry on the occasion of the Prince of Wales’ birthday! The contrasts which greet one constantly in such places as these are often most violent.

The four natives then gave a short exhibition of a dance, which consisted of a slow walk, strongly flexing each leg alternately, and occasionally standing still momentarily, bending the head from one side to the other, the men uttering low grunts all the time.