66 MATHEWS — INITIATION IX AUSTRALIAN TEIBES. [March 18, 



next morning the novices are brought up in close proximity, where 

 they are again smoked, after which they are invited to partake of 

 food spread upon nets by the women. They are then conducted to 

 a camp a little way from the men's quarters, where the old head- 

 men show them quartz crystals and other sacred substances; and 

 also small pieces of wood called handhanyay or kiingara, on which 

 certain mystic lines are made, said to be the work of Dharroogan. 

 They are forbidden to eat certain kinds of food until released from 

 these restrictions by the old men. 



The ceremonies being now at an end, the visiting tribes make 

 preparations for starting on their return journey, and in a few days 

 most of them are on their way homeward, each tribe taking their 

 own novices with them. The latter are kept under the control 

 of their seniors for a considerable time, and must conform to cer- 

 tain rules laid down by the headmen. It is also necessary that they 

 shall attend one or more additional Burhung gatherings before they 

 can become thoroughly acquainted with the different parts of the 

 ceremonial and be fully qualified to take their place as men of the 

 tribe. 



On the Macleay river there is an abbreviated form of inaugural 

 rite, known as the Mu7'rawin, and among the tribes occupying the 

 Nymboi and Mitchell rivers there is a short ceremony called the 

 Walloonggurra. Both these rites are of a probationary character, 

 leading up to the fuller ceremonial of the burbujig, from which 

 they differ in so many respects that I have thought it necessary to 

 describe them in separate articles. 



Before cannibalism ceased to be practiced by the tribes dealt 

 with in this paper it was the custom to kill and eat a man during 

 the burbling ceremonies. The victim was an initiated man of the 

 tribe, and his flesh and blood were consumed by the men and 

 novices. I am preparing an article dealing fully with this and 

 similar customs, so that further reference is unnecessary at present. 



Explanation" of Plate V. 



The burbling described in the preceding pages completes a series 

 of articles written by me on the different types of initiatory rites 

 of the aboriginal tribes scattered over the whole of New South Wales. 

 I have now prepared a map of the colony, defining the boun- 

 daries of the several districts within which each type of ceremony 



