324 R. H. MATHEWS. 



the other parts of the body. The operator separates it into 

 small wisps or coils, which he holds out horizontally, one 

 at a time, and then applies the taper near the roots, thus 

 severing the hair from the head. The whole is then 

 wrapped up with green leaves and tied round with string 

 made of opossum fur. This is attached to the desiccated 

 tail of a native dog, and hung upon a neck-lace which is 

 worn by the guguba or maternal uncle of the lad's mother. 



The youth's body is greased and white stripes of paint 

 drawn upon his back, and from his forehead down his nose, 

 chest and stomach, extending right down to the end of his 

 penis. A belt is put round his waist, and green, leafy 

 boughs fastened in it to represent an apron or burrandity. 

 A forked green bough is fastened on each shoulder. 



By the time these preparations have been completed it 

 is well on in the afternoon, and the novice is kept in a quiet 

 place out of the way of traffic. Most of the men and 

 women are away hunting, and return to the main camp 

 about an hour before sundown, and commence preparations 

 for the evening meal. When everybody is busy dressing 

 and cooking the results of the day's hunting, the graduate 

 is brought out suddenly and runs in amongst them, shouting 

 Hoh! hoh ! yeh ! yen! waho ! He jumps and shakes his 

 legs like the men do at corroborees. In one hand he carries 

 a piece of smouldering bark, around the proximal end of 

 which green twigs are tied. In the other hand he holds a 

 club or other weapon, with which he occasionally taps the 

 burning bark, making sparks fly in all directions. 



He promenades from one group of hunters to another all 

 about the camp, gesticulating and shouting in the same 

 way. He then withdraws to the place prepared for him 

 near the men's quarters, where his guardian and a few old 

 chiefs look after him for the night. He sleeps with the 

 forked boughs on his shoulders, but next morning he casts 



