102 K. H. MATHEWS. 



" The candidate was first taken to the upper end of the avenue, 

 and was there instructed by the old men in their mythology ; and 

 while conducting him doWn the long line of trees the meaning of 

 all the various symbols was particularly detailed. At the same 

 time certain dramatic representations were performed, the 

 principal one being the destruction of the eagle-hawk by Baiamai. 

 The youth was then brought into the circular enclosure, where he 

 had one of his upper front teeth knocked out with a stone, after 

 which he was sent into the bush for a time. On his return to 

 the tribe he was permitted to wear a slight girdle, composed of 

 narrow stripes of opossum skin, and to carry the spear and other 

 war arms like men." 



Mr. Henderson gives a plan of this Bora-ground which is highly 

 interesting and valuable, because it is the only plan given by early 

 writers on this subject. This plan shows the position of the circle, 

 the narrow pathway, and the avenue ; also, the position of the 

 trees along this avenue, and some of the devices which were carved 

 upon them. I have thought Mr. Henderson's plan of sufficient 

 importance to reproduce that part of it which shows the Bora- 

 ground, omitting the carvings on the trees. {Plate 4, fig. 2.) 



An account of a Bora held between the Lower Castlereagh and 

 Barwon Rivers in 1862, more than thirty years ago is given by 

 Rev. W. Ridley in his work, Kamilaroi and Other Australian 

 Languages, pp. 154, 155. A place was cleared and surrounded 

 with bushes laid as a fence, like a sheep-yard, but the dimensions 

 of the enclosure are not given. Within this bush fence were three 

 old men. After describing some preliminary ceremonies, Mr. 

 Ridley says, " the old men called in the youths one by one, and 

 as each came in, by leaping over the fence, one of the old men 

 flogged him as hard as he could with a strip of bark two feet long 

 and six or eight inches wide. Then, with two stones, one used as 

 a peg the other as a hammer, they broke off", and knocked out one 

 of his front teeth, leaving the root of the tooth in his jaw. During 

 the next four days they were allowed to walk about within a short 

 distance, and at the end of that time they were again brought 



