IX SILENCE, SINGLE FILE, A SMALL GROUP
of dark-skinned men slowly climb steep
rocks to reach a cave in the wall of a ravine. On the face of the
rock in the cave are sacred drawings, made by the ancestors of
these men ages ago. There is a semicircle of small stones on
the floor of the cave, placed there just as long ago. Standing by
these stones, the men sing songs that are a part of an ancient
rite of their tribe. Bending rhythmically, as in a dance, they
strike the stones with special twigs they have brought. This,
too, is a part of the rite.
These men are members of the Witchetty Grub Clan,
part of the Arunta tribe in Central Australia. They live on
a vast desert where only scrub and a few trees can survive
throughout the year. Rain comes seldom, but when it does
come it pours down in torrents, and suddenly the desert
blossoms as the rose. Plants, flowers, birds, insects, and other
wildlife appear as if by magic. It seems to these people of
the desert that this sudden upsurge of life has been sent by
the spirits who created life everywhere on earth. It is spirits,
too, who send the witchetty grub, a food so special that this
clan was named for it.
The Witchetty Grub people and their neighbors of
other clans live by hunting animals and insects and gathering
wild fruits and seeds. They believe that if they do not
perform the ancient rites the spirits will not send an abundance
of food. The people may starve. These rites are religious
ceremonies performed in a set pattern, at special times
of the year, for the gods or spirits who control man's world