animals of the male gender except the porcupine: this they are to avoid. They are not allowed to eat the generative organs of any animal; some indeed are ordered to skin all the animals, so that in skinning them they may cut off the parts forbidden. Of birds, the only restriction seems to be the black duck. They are not allowed to eat grubs which are got from the gum-trees. There are no restrictions with regard to vegetable food among the Gippsland tribes.
Among the Maneroo tribes the uninitiated are not allowed to eat the opossum, the bandicoot, the porcupine, the emu, the young native bear, the young kangaroo, or grubs. I am told that the young women were also under this rule before marriage.
Among the Murray blacks the uninitiated were not allowed to eat parts of the emu, or the black duck or grubs; and of fish the following kinds, namely, the golden perch (Bangnalla), the eel-fish (Yamia). The uninitiated were called Wilyango Kurnundo—a term synonymous with our hobbledehoy. As soon as they were made 'young men,' they were called Thalera, to express strength and manhood.
The young girls never went through any ceremony of initiation, and there was nothing kept from them either before or after marriage, except the large eaglehawk and the hind part of the emu. The latter is always kept from young people. No one except old men and women may partake of such food. Among the Murray blacks the women abstained from fish during certain periods, and at these periods they were not allowed to go near water for fear of frightening the fish. They were also not allowed to eat them, for the same reason. A woman during such periods would never cross the river in a canoe, or even fetch water for the camp. It was sufficient for her to say Thama, to ensure her husband getting the water himself. I have not found this superstition amongst the Gippsland tribes. I am told by an Omeo woman that her tribe would not allow the young women to eat the porcupine before marriage, though they had no ceremony of initiation. I do not think you will find that any of the Victorian tribes put their young women through any form of initiation. Very young children were allowed to eat anything until they came to years of discretion. At about the age of twelve years they were put under training. But the Maneroo blacks would not allow little children to eat the porcupine."
In the Lower Murray district "certain kinds of food could not be eaten by young men and boys. Twenty kinds of native game were forbidden to the Narumbar—that is, those undergoing initiation into manhood—and thirteen kinds to the boys. These prohibitions were strictly observed. Certain penalties were said to follow disobedience. If the boys ate wallaby, they would turn grey; if they ate the fish called Tyiri, they would have sore legs; if they cooked food with palyi or pandandi wood, all the fish would forsake the shore."[1]
In the Port Lincoln district "the general principle, with regard to the division of game is, that the men eat the male animals, the women the females, and the children the small animals; but since there is no rule without its exception, so, in this case, the men claim the right also to eat the female and small animals,
- ↑ The Narrinyeri, p. 90.
