334 R. H. MATHEWS. 



One evening by the light of the camp fires, a man takes 

 a small stick about fifteen or twenty inches in length, and 

 binds a piece of the pelt of some animal, newly skinned, on 

 one end, which he inserts into his anus, the free end of the 

 stick having previously been lighted in the fire. The man 

 now moves back into the darkness, swaying his rump with 

 the fiery caudal appendage from side to side, in imitation 

 of the bird known as the " willy- wag tail." Several men 

 may engage in this performance and sing the prescribed 

 song. 



A week or more may be spent at these camping places 

 in the bush, the time being regulated by the weather and 

 other considerations. The programme of performances 

 changes every day, and each dramatic entertainment has 

 its own appropriate song, which is chanted by the men 

 engaged in it, or by the old men sitting near the fire. The 

 graduates are shewn the larger bullroarer, bumbir-bumbir, 

 and also the smaller one, mattijanuik, who is the wife of 

 the former. 



In the remainder of the ceremony, from this point onwards 

 to the end, the procedure closely resembles the correspond- 

 ing portions of the Wonggoa, already described, and will 

 therefore be passed over. The graduates have to pass 

 through this ordeal of depilation at not less than two or 

 three different meetings of the tribes for that purpose 

 before they can be admitted to full membership, and be 

 called birnapkiJ. 1 



Notes on the Initiation of Girls. 

 During several interviews with an old woman of the 

 Wuddyawurru tribe respecting the language and customs 



1 Compare the foregoing summary with my description of the " Initia- 

 tion Ceremonies of the Barkunjee Tribes," who adjoin the people herein 

 dealt with. — Journ. Roy. Soc, N.S.W., Vol. xxxii., pp. 241 - 255, with map 

 of territory. See also my " Multyerra-Initiations-zeremonie/' Mitteil. 

 d. Anthrop. Gesellsch. in Wien, Band xxxiv., S. 77 - 83. 



