The Worora at Port George IV further decorate the whole of the back with alternating groups of horizontal and vertical lines, those on the shoulder blade being particularly prominent.
The central tribes have embodied in the curriculum of initiation tests a sky-shying act, called “Algerrigiowumma” by the Arunndta, during which the novice is tossed high into the air by a number of older men. The ceremony is somewhat as follows. By agreement, a crowd of men and women assemble at night upon a cleared piece of ground near the camp-fires. After a few songs and ordinary dances, whose object seems to be more to create an atmosphere than that they have any definite significance from an initiation point of view, the whole congregation draws up in one or two lines and settles down to a peculiar dance, shuffling sideways from one edge of the cleared space to the other and back again. As they move they mumble a verse of coarse guttural words which ends in hissing notes resembling the panting of a vicious animal. At this moment two or three men spring from behind and seize the unsuspecting novice. Rushing towards the expectant crowd, they swing him high above their shoulders and throw him among the outstretched arms of the crowd. There he is seized by a dozen or more of the most powerful men, who toss him high up towards the sky. During his flight through the air the position of the boy is usually horizontal. When he returns again by gravitation, he is caught and once more projected skywards; and the same process is repeated time after time. He may then be released, but if the crowd again begin to dance and sing, he will in all probability have to submit to a repetition. The ceremony amounts to a formal handing over of the boy by the women to the care of the men.
Of momentous importance is the initiation ceremony which includes the circumcision of the novice; it is the first occasion upon which the truth of growing manhood is definitely made clear to the boy. The Aluridja refer to the ceremony as “Arrarra”; it extends over a period of several days, during which wild dances and songs are produced. For weeks before the novices are zealously guarded by certain of the old men and kept away from the mixed camp. No women are tolerated within a wide radius of the spot at which the ritual event is to be celebrated; and throughout the vigil the boys remain out of sight of their female relatives and are allowed to converse with none but their guardians. The boys’ diet is restricted to only a few very ordinary items, amounting to a mere sustenance; anything they are able to obtain by assiduous hunting is required to be handed to the men in charge. After having listened to the songs of the men officiating in the ceremony, the boys are allowed on the second or third night to attend in person. They are given to understand that what they are about to see is never to be explained to any of the women or juniors. The performance must be regarded as sacred and most secret; and they must realize that, although invisible, there are many ghost-ancestors present who are following every item of the ceremony with proud appreciation. At such a stage the performers are awe-inspiring spectacles, being richly decorated with white and red down and wearing the cross-shaped “Wanningi” in their hair ([Plate XLIII], 2).
A great fire is burning at the edge of a cleared space, around which a number of men are sitting and singing and beating the ground with sticks. To the listener the strains sound respectful, if not worshipful; in the Aluridja they run somewhat like: “Imbinana alla’m binana,” repeated almost indefinitely. In the glaring light it is noticed that the ground is cleared of the original grass and growth, but is covered with a layer of leaves of the red gum tree which abounds along the watercourses. Upon this matting of leaves the dancers are moving to and fro, madly stamping the ground. Then, as they quicken their pace, each places the point of his beard into his mouth and tries to look as ferocious as possible. The lead is taken by one who is carrying a short hooked stick in front of him. In single file these men encircle the chorus, the leader touching all present with his crook and shrieking “Arr, arr, aah!”
PLATE XXXI
Melville Islander.
Full-face and profile. Note prognathism combined with “negative” chin.
The novice (or novices, as the case may be) is now taken away from the wild scene and again given to understand that henceforth he is not to leave the company of the men, and that he must do as those in authority bid him. He is taken to another fire some distance off and covered with red ochre from head to foot; his hair is tied back with human hair-string; then he is led back to the principal group of performers.
When he re-appears, the dancers rush around in the manner described above, crying “Arr, arr, aah!” with husky voices, first more or less confusedly, but gradually in a more defined line which gradually closes upon the youth. Beyond themselves with excitement, they lay hands upon the lad and lift him upon the backs of two or three of the men who are stooping in readiness to receive him. As he is carried onwards, the other performers, and some of the chorus as well, cluster around the panic-stricken boy, each of them taking hold of some part of his body and helping to make the mass of humanity as confused as possible ([Plate XXIX], 2). Thus they tour around the cirque and pull up near to the fire. Two or three of the number now throw themselves beneath the carriers, who, in their turn, immediately pile themselves upon them. The boy is pulled back on to this human operating table full length, and another man immediately jumps on to his chest; others hold him securely by his arms and legs. All the time the men keep up their cries of “Arr!” and from different places around the fire the booming, humming, and shrieking notes of bull-roarers rise above the din.