6 Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 



man, and so on all round the ring, until the last man can catch 

 the right hand of the man who holds the spear. The first man 

 thereupon relinquishes his hold of the spear, which is a signal for 

 all the men to let go each others' hands. An old man then goes 

 round the ring and hits the ground with his nulla nulla, and all 

 the men fall down. In a short time they rise again from the 

 ground and withdraw to the side of the I'ing where the track 

 enters it. Tlie boys' lieads are now bent down, and the women 

 are covered with rugs, bushes or grass, some of the old men 

 being deputed to watch them. As soon as this is done two men 

 sound bullroarers {ininyawoak) in close proximity, whilst the 

 other men beat their weapons togethei", and the man who has 

 been appointed guardian to the novice, usually his brother-in- 

 law, now catches him by the arm and leads him away along the 

 pathway. On reaching the farther ring the novices are shown 

 the carvings on the turf and on the trees, the eagle-hawk's nest, 

 the lightning tree, etc. They are next shown Dhurramoolun and 

 Ghindaring, and lastly the blood-stained posts, with the white 

 stones and string. The posts are then pulled out of the ground 

 and burnt upon the fire. 



The Watyoor Camp. — A short digression must now be made 

 for the ^purpose of explaining how the women ai^e released from 

 the custody in which they were left when the novices were taken 

 away. Shortly after the latter get out of sight the covering is 

 removed from the women by the old men who have charge of 

 them, and they are set at liberty. All hands then gather up their 

 baggage and i"emove the camp to another locality, perhaps some 

 miles distant, which was determined by the head men at the 

 same time that they fixed the day for taking the boys away. On 

 arriving at the new site the local mob are the first to erect their 

 quarters, around which the visiting tribes take up their positions 

 on the sides which are nearest their respective districts. Several 

 old men, some belonging to each tribe, remain with the women 

 at this new camp for the purpose of supei'intending the due 

 performance of all the tribal regulations. 



About a hundred yards from the main encampment — on the 

 side towards that part of the hunting grounds into which the 

 novices have been taken — the old women, and mothers of the 

 boys, erect a gunyah, called the ivatyoor, composed of forked 



