forth before
him, until, when he has passed through the last of the rites and
ordeals, he is free to behold and to take part in the whole series of
mystery plays or professedly historical dramas. Sometimes the
performance of these dramas extends over two or three months, during
which one or more of them are acted daily.[148] For the most part, they
are very short and simple, each of them generally lasting only a few
minutes, though the costumes of the actors are often elaborate and may
have taken hours to prepare. I will describe a few of them as samples.

[Sidenote: Ceremony of the Hakea flower totem.]

We will begin with a ceremony of the Hakea flower totem in the Arunta
tribe, as to which it may be premised that a decoction of the Hakea
flower is a favourite drink of the natives. The little drama was acted
by two men, each of whom was decorated on his bare body by broad bands
of pearly grey edged with white down, which passed round his waist and
over his shoulders, contrasting well with the chocolate colour of his
skin. On his head each of them wore a kind of helmet made of twigs, and
from their ears hung tips of the tails of rabbit-bandicoots. The two sat
on the ground facing each other with a shield between them. One of them
held in his hand some twigs representing the Hakea flower in bloom;
these he pretended to steep in water so as to brew the favourite
beverage of the natives, and the man sitting opposite him made believe
to suck it up with a little mop. Meantime the other men ran round and
round them shouting _wha! wha!_ This was the substance of the play,
which ended as usual by several men placing their hands on the shoulders
of the performers as a signal to them to stop.[149]

[Sidenote: Ceremony of a fish totem.]

Again, to take another Arunta ceremony of a fish totem called
_interpitna_. The fish is the bony bream (_Chatoessus horni_), which
abounds in the water-holes of the country. The play was performed by a
single actor, an old man, whose face was covered with a mass of white
down contrasting strongly with a large bunch of black eagle-hawk
feathers which he wore on his head. His body was decorated with bands of
charcoal edged with white down. Squatting on the ground he moved his
body and extended his arms from his sides, opening and closing them as
he leaned forwards, so as to imitate a fish swelling itself out and
opening and closing its gills. Then, holding twigs in his hands, he
moved along mimi