, except for a long wavy
band of red down which ran all along both sides of the mound. This wavy
red band represented the Wollunqua, his head being indicated by a small
round swelling at one end and his tail by a short prolongation at the
other. The mound itself represented a sand-hill beside which the snake
is said to have stood up and looked about. The preparation of this
elaborate emblem of the Wollunqua occupied the greater part of the day,
and it was late in the afternoon before it was completed. When darkness
fell, fires were lighted on the ceremonial ground, and as the night grew
late more fires were kindled, and all of the men sat round the mound
singing songs which referred to the mythical water-snake. This went on
for hours. At last, about three o'clock in the morning, a ring of fires
was lit all round the ceremonial ground, in the light of which the white
trunks of the gum-trees and the surrounding scrub stood out weird and
ghastly against the blackness of darkness beyond. Amid the wildest
excitement the men of the Wollunqua totem now ranged themselves in
single file on their knees beside the mound which bore the red image of
their great mythical forefather, and with their hands on their thighs
surged round and round it, every man bending in unison first to one side
and then to the other, each successive movement being accompanied by a
loud and simultaneous shout, or rather yell, while the other men, who
were not of the Wollunqua totem, stood by, clanging their boomerangs
excitedly, and one old man, who acted as a sort of choregus, walked
backwards at the end of the kneeling procession of Wollunqua men,
swaying his body about and lifting high his knees at every step. In this
way, with shouts and clangour, the men of the totem surged twice round
the mound on their knees. After that, as the fires died down, the men
rose from their knees, and for another hour every one sat round the
mound singing incessantly. The last act in the drama was played at four
o'clock in the morning at the moment when the first faint streaks of
dawn glimmered in the east. At sight of them every man jumped to his
feet, the smouldering fires were rekindled, and in their blaze the long
white mound stood out in strong relief. The men of the totem, armed with
spears, boomerangs, and clubs, ranged themselves round it, and
encouraged by the men of the other totems attacked it fiercely with
their weapons, until in a few minutes they had hacked i