at the bottom end. The piercing the hut with their heads symbolises the piercing of the clouds, and the fall of the hut symbolises that of the rain.
In the rainy seasons which are too wet, the Dieri also supplicate the Mura-muras to restrain the rain, and Mr. Gason has seen the old men in a complete state of frenzy, believing that their ceremonies had caused the Mura-muras to send too much of it.
The prepuce, which is carefully kept from the Kurawali ceremony, is also believed to have great power of producing rain. The great council has always several of them for use when required. They are kept carefully concealed, wrapped up in feathers, with the fat of the wild dog and the carpet-snake. Mr. Gason has seen such a parcel unwrapped, while the men watched with cat-like vigilance that no woman should be near, although they knew that no woman was nearer than half-a-mile. They implored him not to reveal the contents of the parcel to a woman.
After the ceremonial opening of the parcel, and the exhibition of the prepuce, it is buried, its virtue being exhausted.
If no rain follows, the explanation is that some neighbouring tribe has influenced the Mura-mura not to grant it to them. During the time of partial drought the Dieri do not feel anxiety if they have a prepuce, believing that with its aid they can cause rain to come before long.[1]
The principal rain-making Mura-muras, according to the Lake Hope Dieri, are the two Daras (Dara-ulu), and the two Pampos (Pampo-ulu), as to whose rain-making powers there are legends, which will be found in the Appendix.
It is universally believed by the tribes of the Karamundi nation, of the Darling River, that rain can be brought down by the following ceremony. A vein in the arm of one of the men is opened and the blood allowed to drop into a piece of hollow bark until there is a little pool. Into this is put a quantity of gypsum, ground fine, and stirred until it has the consistency of a thick paste. A number of hairs are pulled out of the man's beard and mixed up with this
- ↑ S. Gason.
