Ceremonial venesection, Arunndta tribe.
1. The median basilic vein is being slit. Note ligature above the biceps.
2. The blood which is spurting from the incision is being collected on a shield.
A similar tradition is perpetuated by the north-western tribes referred to and affords the motive of one of the most earnest and sacred fire-ceremonies known in Australia. The performance takes place during the night. It is introduced by two men; the one represents a mischievous spirit trying to steal back the sacred fire which is being carefully guarded by a number of men impersonating the ancestral tribesmen who originally discovered it; the other is a warrior who has accidentally come upon the would-be thief and overpowered him. The spirit crouches at the feet of the warrior, sitting upon his heels, with his head drooping upon his chest and his hands hanging loosely between his thighs. The warrior stands erect behind his supposed captive, with his legs apart, and continues striking the fellow with small bundles of brushwood, one of which he holds in either hand. The beating is done regularly, both hands rising simultaneously, high above the warrior’s head, and falling together upon the spirit’s head.
Some two chains away, the tribal ancestors are grouped by the fire-side and are chanting the following lines:
“Wai dang bunnai,
Inna dinna dulla ngai.”
The men sit in a row at the back of the fire, with their thighs asunder and their legs bent in the knees; their chins are resting upon their chests whilst they beat the backs of their heads with small bundles of brushwood, keeping time with their song and with the performance of the warrior.
When, after a while, the music ceases, the warrior is seen to be lying asleep beside his captive. The ancestors become restless and begin to move sideways, first in a body to the left and then to the right; then they move backwards and forwards. This movement is peculiarly weird since the performers do it by shuffling over the ground in the sitting posture, with their arms held erect, but bent in the elbow.
Presently the music starts again, and the spirit known as “Ngardaddi” is seen to be stealthily creeping towards the fire, his body lying flat upon the ground and his legs dragging behind. He advances very slowly, turning his face towards the ground, in search of the fire which escaped from heaven. He wears a tall head-dress quite thirty-two inches long, which consists of a tightly fitting hemispherical cap carrying a column in its centre, at the top of which a bundle of split black-cockatoo feathers is attached. The feathers are from the male bird’s tail, and the brilliant red patches in them are representative of fire. The whole structure is made of paper-bark and human hair-string, the outer surface being decorated with ochre, pipeclay, charcoal, and vegetable-down. Vide [Plate XXXII].