SEQ History

Then, still holding on, the lads would follow the men across the ring, the gins behind, till they came to where the roadway started out to the smaller circle. Here the women were ordered back by the old warriors, and they remained in the larger ring dancing and singing till the boys returned. They were never allowed to go up this roadway, nor might they see the "kakka" on pain of death.

The boys were shown the images lining both sides of the way, the men drawing their attention to them with the continual cry - "Kor-e, kor-e, kor-e" ("Kor-a," with the e accented and sounded as an a, means "wonder"). Thus they would reach the smaller circle, where in the centre the "kakka" stood supreme, and on this platform five or six blacks would be found standing, freshly blackened and all dressed up. These gentlemen were the great men of the day - they were all "turrwans," and when the boys appeared before them each man would pull a "kundri" stone from his mouth, showing it to the boys as much as to say, "Look at this wonder." They would also point out the "kakka" as something marvellous. The boys from their babyhood had been taught to look on the "kundri" and its possessor with awe, and though they had never seen a "kakka" before, they had heard mysteriously of its wonders.