absence of the curious sex doubly sure. The stories of supernatural
consequences to follow if a woman sees the turndun lend a sanction. This
is not a random theory, without basis. In Brazil, the natives have no
bull-roarer, but they have mysteries, and the presence of the women at
the mysteries of the men is a terrible impiety. To warn away the women,
the Brazilians make loud 'devil-music' on what are called 'jurupari
pipes.' Now, just as in Australia, _the women may not see the jurupari
pipes on pain of death_. When the sound of the jurupari pipes is heard,
as when the turndun is heard in Australia, every woman flees and hides
herself. The women are always executed if they see the pipes. Mr.
Alfred Wallace bought a pair of these pipes, but he had to embark them at
a distance from the village where they were procured. The seller was
afraid that some unknown misfortune would occur if the women of his
village set eyes on the juruparis. {44}

The conclusion from all these facts seems obvious. The bull-roarer is an
instrument easily invented by savages, and easily adopted into the ritual
of savage mysteries. If we find the bull-roarer used in the mysteries of
the most civilised of ancient peoples, the most probable explanation is,
that the Greeks retained both the mysteries, the bull-roarer, the habit
of bedaubing the initiate, the torturing of boys, the sacred obscenities,
the antics with serpents, the dances, and the like, from the time when
their ancestors were in the savage condition. That more refined and
religious ideas were afterwards introduced into the mysteries seems
certain, but the rites were, in many cases, simply savage. Unintelligible
(except as survivals) when found among Hellenes, they become intelligible
enough among savages, because they correspond to the intellectual
condition and magical fancies of the lower barbarism. The same sort of
comparison, the same kind of explanation, will account, as we shall see,
for the savage myths as well as for the savage customs which survived