of the London Missionary Society two bull-roarers, with the following description :-"Tiparu, only seen by a young man after initiation into manhood, and then pigs are killed, and a large feast prepared. All women and young people leave the village lest they should hear it and die. Had great difficulty in getting them." The larger of these two measures 20 inches by 5 inches, and is carved on both sides with scrolls, which are, as usual, painted red, black, and white. The second one is 11 inches by 12 inch; but instead of being ellipsoidal, it is practically an elongated isosceles triangle with a pointed base—one side has a slightly carved tooth-pattern along the margin. (Fig. 40, Nos. 10, 11.)

In connection with the same ceremonies at which the masks are employed, certain flat, or slightly biconvex, ellipsoidal wooden objects are used, which are generally prolonged at one end into a handle, and are perforated at the other. They are often adorned at the side with vegetable fibre. Their shape bears a close resemblance to that of a bullroarer, and I have ventured to suggest * that they may have arisen from this implement, which we have seen is used in this district during the initiation ceremonies. An objection to this view might be urged from the circumstance that among those people who employ the bull-roarer during initiation cere

* A. C. HADDON, Dec. Art New Guinea, p. 102.

monies, the implement is so sacred that it may not be exhibited to any woman or uninitiate. But these objects are not actual bull-roarers, and even if they are modelled upon the bull-roarers, their relatively large size and their decoration alter their character, and it is very improbable that any initiate would inform the uninstructed that there was any resemblance between the two objects. These ceremonial tablets, as I have termed them, vary from about 20 inches to 60 inches in length, and, so far as I know, without exception they bear delineations of the human form or face.

Very similar to these ceremonial tablets are some oval wooden slabs that Mr. Chalmers has recently sent to this country from the mouth of the Fly River, on which are carved conventionalized human faces, associated with simple patterns; some he describes as "gope-gope, charms hung in new houses for good luck... gope, house charm . . gope, figure-head of canoe, gives good passage, and is thought a wonderful charm." I suspect these, too, are in reality bull-roarer derivatives.

Mr. Chalmers is also our authority for the existence of initiation ceremonies in this district at which the bull-roarer, burumamaramu, is exhibited. He says: "When used all women and children leave the village and go into the bush. The old men swing it and show it to the young men when the yams are ready

for digging (May and June)." The name evidently means "the mother of yams.' These bull-roarers are decorated with incised or carved designs. At the same occasion a wooden female image (uvio-moguru, urumuruburu, &c.) is given to the lads to be worn by them, but it must not be seen by women or children.

I found that in the island of Mabuiag, in Torres Straits, the large carved and painted bull-roarers (bigu) (Fig. 40, No. 12) were formerly suspended round certain platforms that were connected with the turtle fishery. A small bull-roarer (wainis) was also associated with this cult, but they were kept in the bush. Women were allowed to see it. 'It was half-play," they said. When the men went out to catch the floating turtle they took a bigu from the platform and swung it over the canoe preparatory to starting. On the approach of the successful canoes the man who had stationed himself on a hill would whirl a wainis, and the women knew that the fishers had been lucky. At Moa a man would raise the wind by painting himself black all over and whirling a bull-roarer.t

In the autumn of 1888 I visited Muralug (Prince of Wales Island), in Torres Straits. The son of the

* S. H. RAY and A. C. HADDON, "Languages of Torres Straits,” ii., Proc. Roy. Irish Acad. (3), iv., 1897, p. 309. (buruma, a variety of yam; maramu, mother).

† A. C. HADDON, "The Ethnography of the Western Tribe of Torres Straits," Journ. Anth. Inst., xix., 1890, pp. 406, 427, 432.

chief of that island was a friend of mine, and when I went to his father's village I determined to see whether I could discover if these people, who are Papuans, and not Australians, had a knowledge of the bull-roarer.

So I took the old man and his son apart, and was careful not only to see that nobody was close by, but to speak in a low tone of voice. As I could not speak their language, our means of communication was the jargon English which is spoken all over the Pacific.

I said to him, "You make him boy man?" (That is, "Do you have initiation ceremonies in which boys are made into men?") "Yes," he replied, "we make him boy man." "You got thing, time you make him boy man?" At first the old chief would say nothing, and looked stolidly ignorant, but I persisted, and whirled my arm and made a whirring noise, and said, "I savvy that thing. You got him?" This was too much for him; his surprise that any white man knew anything about it was so evident that he was obliged to admit that they had the implement. "What name you call him?" The old boy looked cautiously all around, and after satisfying himself that no one could overhear him, he whispered, “Waness." After a considerable amount of coaxing he promised to make one for me, evidently being satisfied in his own mind that I was an initiate of some kind or other. The next morning he took me and his son into the bush, and

took precautions that he was not followed. When some distance off he produced a bull-roarer, and showed me how to swing it. Then in a secret and confidential manner he gave it to me, making me promise not to show it to any woman. I naturally took this to mean any native woman, and I did not. I have given this specimen (Fig. 40, No. 13) to the British Museum. Its form, like that in most countries, was a long oval, pointed at both ends, and with bevelled edges. One end had a short bar-like projection to prevent the string from slipping off; the latter was about a yard in length, and its other end was attached to a stick. It was whirled round and round over the head. I was informed that the waness was usually ornamented with a central white band, a red band being painted a short distance above and below it.

A few weeks afterwards I was in Christianized Mer (Murray Island)—a small island about 120 miles from Muralug-and to my great surprise I saw a number of small boys playing with similar bull-roarers. These boys were scholars in the Mission School, and had been brought from Saibai, a low island near the coast of New Guinea, at the other end of the Straits. In one island a bull-roarer was too sacred to be shown to a woman; in another it was a plaything!

All over Australia the bull-roarer is regarded with religious awe, and it is first shown to lads at the