their own tribe, all the members of which are regarded as of the same family. Generally, two youths are made Kainganis at the same time, so that they may afterwards, during the time that they are Narumbe, assist each other. They are seized at night suddenly by the men, and carried off by force to a spot at some little distance from the wurley, the women all the time resisting or pretending to resist the seizure by pulling at the captives, and throwing fire-brands at their captors. But they are soon driven off to their wurley, and compelled to stop there, while the men proceed to strip the two youths. Their matted hair is combed or rather torn out with the point of a spear, and their moustaches and a great part of their beards plucked up by the roots. They are then besmeared from the crown of their heads to their feet with a mixture of oil and red-ochre. For three days and three nights the newly-made Kainganis must neither eat nor sleep, a strict watch being kept over them to prevent either. They are allowed to drink water, but only by sucking it up through a reed; the luxury of a drinking vessel is denied to them for several months. And when, after the three days, the refreshment of sleep is permitted, they are not allowed a pillow—a couple of sticks stuck in the ground cross-wise are all that they must rest their heads on. For six months they are obliged to walk naked, or with merely the slightest covering round their loins. The condition of Narumbe lasts until their beards have been pulled out three times, and each time have grown again to about the length of two inches, and during all that period they are forbidden to eat any food which belongs to women, and also from partaking of twenty different kinds of game. If they eat any of these forbidden things, it is thought they will grow ugly. … Everything which they possess or obtain becomes Narumbe, or sacred from the touch of women. … They are not allowed to take a wife until the time during which they are Narumbe has expired; but they are allowed the abominable privilege of promiscuous intercourse with the younger portion of the other sex. Any violation of these customs is punished by the old men with death."
Mr. Charles Wilhelmi, in his account of the manners and customs of the natives in the Port Lincoln district, refers at some length to the secret rites, known to the grown-up men only, into the knowledge of which the young lads are initiated by degrees. It appears that in that part of Australia the natives recognise three steps—each constituting an epoch in the life of a black. During the interval between one stage and another the youth is called by the name of the last step taken by him. At the age of fourteen or fifteen years the youths enter the first stage. Little is known of the ceremonies attendant on this. They are performed in private, and women and children are not allowed to witness them. The eyes of the lads are closed, certain strange words are pronounced, and some native music is heard, and for a time the youths are let go. Two or three months afterwards the novices are required to paint their faces black, and they are not allowed to speak but in whispers—and much whispering would bring on them the rebuke of their elders. The discipline appears to be sternly maintained. A few years afterwards the youths advance to the next degree—when they are called Pardnapas—and undergo the rite of circumcision.
