t to pieces, and
nothing was left of it but a rough heap of sandy earth. The fires again
died down and for a short time silence reigned. Then, just as the sun
rose above the eastern horizon, the painful ceremony of subincision was
performed on three youths, who had recently passed through the earlier
stages of initiation.[140]

[Sidenote: The rite aims both at pleasing and at coercing the mythical
snake.]

This remarkable rite is supposed, we are informed, "in some way to be
associated with the idea of persuading, or almost forcing, the Wollunqua
to remain quietly in his home under the water-hole at Thapauerlu, and to
do no harm to any of the natives. They say that when he sees the mound
with his representation drawn upon it he is gratified, and wriggles
about underneath with pleasure. The savage attack upon the mound is
associated with the idea of driving him down, and, taken altogether, the
ceremony indicates their belief that, at one and the same time, they can
both please and coerce the mythic beast. It is necessary to do things to
please him, or else he might grow sulky and come out and do them harm,
but at the same time they occasionally use force to make him do what
they want."[141] In fact the ritual of the mound with its red image of
the snake combines the principles of religion and magic. So far as the
rite is intended to please and propitiate the mythical beast, it is
religious; so far as it is intended to constrain him, it is magical. The
two principles are contradictory and the attempt to combine them is
illogical; but the savage is heedless, or rather totally unaware, of the
contradiction and illogicality: all that concerns him is to accomplish
his ends: he has neither the wish nor the ability to analyse his
motives. In this respect he is in substantial agreement with the vast
majority of mankind. How many of us scrutinise the reasons of our
conduct with the view of detecting and eliminating any latent
inconsistencies in them? And how many, or rather how few of us, on such
a scrutiny would be so fortunate as to discover that there were no such
inconsistencies to detect? The logical pedant who imagines that men
cannot possibly act on inconsistent and even contradictory motives only
betrays his ignorance of life. It is not therefore for us to cast stones
at the Warramunga men of the Wollunqua totem for attempting to
propitiate and constrain their mythical serpent at the same time. Such
contradictions meet