The Bora of the Kamllaroi Tribes. 153 



rugs at their camp tires. The men go on to the goo/nee, and 

 select the young fellows who are to use the mungawans next 

 morning, and then return to the large ring. At night the men 

 dance a corroboree as usual, after which the boys lie down to rest. 

 During the evening a bullroarer is sounded at intervals in the 

 direction of the goomee. Great sexual license* is permitted 

 between the men and women, whether married or single, on this 

 occasion, but this liberty is restricted to those parties who would 

 be permitted to marry each other in conformity with the class 

 laws of the tribe. This license is not extended to the novices. 

 Some time before daylight a number of the men leave the camp, 

 unknown to the women, and go and remain at Baiamai's fire till 

 the morning. These are the men who have been chosen for the 

 kooringal, and it is generally some of them who are selected to 

 use the mungawans in the large ring. 



At daylight, or shortly before it, next morning the sound of 

 the bullroarer is heard from the direction of the sacred ground, 

 upon which the women commence to sing bobbaritbwar, and the 

 men at the ring raise the customary shout. Some of the men 

 now commence to cut forks and bushes with which they put up a 

 bough screen round outside the ring, about two feet from it, on 

 the side opposite the track. This is done by inserting forked 

 sticks in the ground, and laying rails from one to the other ; 

 against the rails bushes are laid, one end of the bushes resting on 

 the ground, the other on the rails, and forming a thick screen or 

 fence. The painting of the novices is going on at the same time 

 at any convenient place about the camp. Each tribe paint their 

 own boys. Say, for example, one of the novices belongs to the 

 class Kubbi ; a guardian is chosen for him from among the young 

 men of the class Ippai. This man and his sister Ippatha then 

 paint the boy Kubbi. He is first painted red all over with raddle 

 and grease, and then a few white stripes are added about the 

 face and chest, according to the pattern common to his tribe. 

 He is also decorated with bird's feathers in his hair. A Kumbo 

 and his sister Butha paint a Murri boy ; a Kubbi and Kubbitha 

 paint an Ippai ; and a Murri and his sister Matha paint a 

 Kumbo novice. As soon as all the boys are painted, they are 



* Journ. Anthrop. Inst., xxv., 328. 



