ABOKIGINAL BOKA. 117 



the end of this time, one morning about sunrise, all the blacks, 

 men, women and children, assembled adjacent to the larger circle. 

 All the males, including the novices, then stripped naked, and 

 painted their bodies with red ochre and grease. The men then 

 formed into a group and danced in front of the women and children. 

 The mothers of those to be initiated, or their female relatives dis- 

 charging the parental duty, stood in the front row of the women 

 during this dance, and at its conclusion they commanded the 

 novices to enter the circle, thus relinquishing their authority over 

 them. Up to this time the women retained possession of the 

 youths, but now surrendered them to the headmen of the tribes. 

 The youths then walked into the circle through the opening before 

 described, the members of the three tribes keeping by themselves, 

 thus forming three distinct sections within the ring. 



Each novice had a guardian or sponsor assigned him by the 

 headmen, or masters of the ceremonies, this guardian being selected 

 from among the initiated men of the class and totem with which 

 he was, by the tribal laws, entitled to intermarry.* 



As soon as all the novices were inside the circle, the women 

 and children were made to lie face downwards on the ground on 

 the outside of the ring, on that side of it farthest from the pathway, 

 and their heads were closely covered up with rugs and blankets to 

 prevent them from seeing what was to take place. Some of the 

 old men were deputed to see that this formality was strictly 

 carried out. When the gins and children were securely covered 

 up, the guardians or sponsors entered the circle, and each caught 

 his novice by the hand and led him to a convenient place within 

 it, and painted him with pipeclay, those of each tribe using a 

 distinguishing pattern. The guardians also adorned each of the 



* Howitt says: — " The novice is taken from among the assembled 

 women by the initiated men of that part of the community to which 

 belong the women, as regards whom he has inherited potential marital 

 rights. The men who especially instruct him, and watch over him during 

 the ceremonies, are the brothers — own or tribal — of those women." — Trans 

 Aus. Assoc. Adv. Sci., in., p. 345. 



