ABORIGINAL TRIBES OF NEW SOUTH WALES AND VICTORIA. 333 



extracted tooth is disposed of in other districts. When 

 the plucking out of the hair has been completed, the novices 

 are raised to their feet by their guardians and other men, 

 amid the plaudits of the assemblage. Each graduate is 

 then painted, and is invested with a brow-band, mullengaran; 

 a man's waistbelt, ngeyir; an apron, pain-dyip. Strips of 

 the skin and far of a ring-tail opossum are fastened round 

 the biceps and the fore-arm — each arm being bound in three 

 or four places. Kangaroos' teeth are fixed in the lad's 

 hair, and a neck-lace, dyakum, made of pieces of reed on a 

 string, is placed around his neck. The novices are then 

 cautioned in an impressive and earnest manner against 

 divulging the details of what they have passed through to 

 any person except the initiated. 



Next morning after breakfast the men start out hunting, 

 taking the graduates with them. The latter are freshly 

 greased and painted, and carry a small green bush under 

 each arm. When one of the novices becomes thirsty, he is 

 allowed to crouch down on his elbows and toes at the 

 margin of a pool or stream, and suck up the water into his 

 mouth through a hollow reed which is given to him. The 

 guardian stands alongside and places his foot under the boy's 

 throat, for the purpose of making the swallowing of the 

 liquid difficult and slow, so that he may not drink too much. 



During the day the novices are brought within view of a 

 kangaroo, wallaby or other animal lying dead upon the 

 ground. Several men are walking about it, imitating eagle- 

 hawks and making the peculiar whistling call of that bird. 

 Upon being disturbed, they run along swaying their arms 

 up and down to represent the flapping of the wings of these 

 large birds to enable them to raise their heavy bodies from 

 the ground when they commence to fly away from their 

 prey. Sometimes this performance is varied by the men 

 representing crows instead of eaglehawks. In such case, 

 the action and cry of the crow is mimicked. 



