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travelled and are travelling (the [mu : lu iyga] is taking the 

 route north-westward now, and the [wandjiwandji] north- 

 eastward) is a very old one, and it also shows that the cir- 

 cumcised tribes — amongst whom only these ceremonies travel 

 — were a horde in themselves, and that they arrived after the 

 uncircumcised aborigines, who were the first-comers. Out- 

 side this great V the tribes — certainly of Western Australia 

 and probably of the Eastern States — were uncircumcised, and 

 a most important fact in connection with this is that the 

 circumcised people were gradually encroaching upon and cir- 

 cumcising the tribes outside their borders. I have proved 

 this from Point Malcolm (South Coast, Western Australia) 

 to Ballaballa (beyond Cossack, North-western Australia). 

 Among the groups along the line of demarcation between 

 these two places boys had been given over to the circumcised 

 group adjoining for initiation, but no son of a circumcised 

 father was found to have been given to the uncircumcised 

 tribes for initiation. With the most patient enquiry I could 

 not find one instance of this, but of the other (where the 

 uncircumcised boys are handed over) I found many instances. 



When Sir John Forrest made his journey along the 

 South Coast he noticed that the circumcised groups were 

 east of Cape Arid, which was then their western boundary. 

 They have reached Point Malcolm in the years that have- 

 passed since that journey was taken. When white settlement 

 first took place at Geraldton, Western Australia (about the 

 fifties), the circumcised tribes were within 20 miles of the 

 coast. When I visited the Geraldton area in 1905 they had 

 reached the coast, but their progress was rendered easy by 

 white settlement. They have, therefore, the whole northern 

 seaboard of Western Australia, down to Ballaballa in the 

 Nor'-west, thence inland until they reach the Murchison area, 

 where they touch the coast at Geraldton; from whence they 

 go inland south-east until Point Malcolm is reached. From 

 Point Malcolm they occupy the southern coast to some point 

 in South Australia or Victoria, whence they again turn 

 inland. 



Another most interesting point in this connection is that 

 the Kabi tribes in Queensland, described by the Rev. J. 

 Mathew, have much in common with the south-western 

 (Western Australian) tribes. I fully believe that were these 

 routes followed, which the corroborees are now travelling, 

 much important light would be thrown on the origin of the 

 aborigines, their routes, and their dialects. 



I may add that I attended two performances of the 

 [wandjiwandji], each of which lasted a fortnight, there being 

 three performances every twenty-four hours — at 3 p.m., 



