204 THE ABORIGINES OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 
tell each other stories or recollections of former times, at — 
which they laugh heartily. The young people amuse themselves 
in various ways ; sometimes they propound riddles to one another. 
Here is one of their riddles: A long time ago, there lived andld 
woman of our tribe, who was so strong that she could overpower 
any of the men ; so she used to catch young fellows and eat them. 
One day she caught a young man and left him bound in her 
gunyah* while she went to a distance to cut some sheets of bark 
wrap the body in, before she laid it in the fire where it was 
to be cooked. While she was away, two young women, who had 
observed her doings, slipped into the hut and released the 
prisoner ; they then hurried to the river and, first knocking some 
holes in the bottom of the old woman’s canoe to hinder her 
pursuit, they all escaped safe to the other side in another canoe 
Meanwhile the old dame returned and saw her victim was gone; she 
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the belief that a wizard’s magic cah overpower all 
Until his formal reception into the tribe through the Bora, the 
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the aged and infirm and those who have large families. 
IT.—Mannoop. 
(A.) Initiation. 
When a boy approaches the age of puberty. 
anticipation spreads over his mind, for he knows that his 
manhood has brought him to the threshold of ceremonies 
ious import through which he is to be formally receive’ 
t reby i igni The rites 
- * A tent or hut formed of the branches and the bark of trees 
