40 ProceedivijH of the Royal Society of Victoria. 



and the elder women of the tribe, accompanied by some old men 

 then proceed a few chains from the camp, where they clear a 

 space of all sticks and rubbish which may be lying upon it. 

 Here they light two fires several yards apart, and cut a lot of 

 green bushes which they stack in heaps close by. The women 

 are painted and attiied in their tribal dress, standing near the 

 fires, on the side opposite to that from which the contingent is 

 expected to approach. When all is ready, the bush mob appear 

 in sight, marching in single file, a head man walking at each side 

 — one near the front and another near the rear. AVhen they 

 arrive close to the tires, the women throw pieces of bark over the 

 heads of the boys as they approach. Each mother then catches 

 hold of her son, and conducts him to one of the tires, on which 

 some green bushes are now thrown. The mothers, assisted by 

 the guardians, place the novices standing on the boughs, from 

 which a dense column of smoke ascends around them. The men 

 sing, and the old women present wave their arms about while 

 the boys ai'e being smoked. When the two old men who came 

 marching in with the bush contingent consider that the boys 

 have been sufficiently fumigated, they clap their hands together, 

 and the boys then run away with their guardians to a camp, 

 which has been provided for them a short distance off. All the 

 other men are then smoked in a similar way, fresh boughs being 

 laid upon the tires when more smoke is required, and, at the 

 conclusion of the ceremony, the men and women go into the 

 main camp. 



In a few days after the smoke ordeal just described, the strange 

 tribes who have attended the ceremonies make preparations for 

 their departure. Before the assemblage breaks up the head men 

 of each tribe consult together and select the tribe which will have 

 to prepare the next wandarral ground and entertain the people 

 who will assemble there. Each tribe now take charge of their 

 own neophytes, and take them away with them. On their arrival 

 in tlieir own country the boys are still kept under restraint, and 

 are not permitted to mix with the women or children. They 

 must also abstain from eating certain kinds of food, enumerated 

 by the head men, until they are released from these resti'ictions. 

 When they have completed their term of probation, they are 

 again mustered at a jDlace near the women's camp, and are smoked 



