es. This
is further emphasized by the fact that at other festivals open
sexual intercourse is not allowed. Thus, at the Mindarie, or
dance at a peace festival (when a number of tribes comes
together), "there is great rejoicing at the coming festival,
which is generally held at the full of the moon, and kept up all
night. The men are artistically decorated with down and feathers,
with all kinds of designs. The down and feathers are stuck on
their bodies with blood freshly taken from their penis; they are
also nicely painted with various colors; tufts of boughs are tied
on their ankles to make a noise while dancing. Promiscuous sexual
intercourse is carried on _secretly_; many quarrels occur at this
time." (_Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, vol. xxiv,
November, 1894, p. 174.)

In Australian dances, sometimes men and women dance together,
sometimes the men dance alone, sometimes the women. In one dance
described by Eyre: "Women are the chief performers; their bodies
are painted with white streaks, and their hair adorned with
cockatoo feathers. They carry large sticks in their hands, and
place themselves in a row in front, while the men with their
spears stand in a row behind them. They then all commence their
movements, but without intermingling, the males and females
dancing by themselves. The women have occasionally another mode
of dancing, by joining the hands together over the head, closing
the feet, and bringing the knees into contact. The legs are then
thrown outward from the knee, while the feet and hands are kept
in their original position, and, being drawn quickly in again, a
sharp sound is produced by the collision. This is also practised
alone by young girls or by several together for their own
amusement. It is adopted also when a single woman is placed in
front of a row of male dancers to excite their passions." (E.J.
Eyre, _Journals of Expeditions into Central Australia_, vol. ii,
p. 235.)

A charming Australian folk-tale concerning two sisters with
wings, who disliked men, and their wooing by a man, clearly
indicates, even among the Australians (whose love-making is
commonly supposed to be somewhat brutal in character), the
consciousness that it is by his beauty, charm, and skill in
courtship that a man wins a woman. Unahanach, the lover, stole