ABORIGINAL BORA. 123 



bush. The entrance to this yard was on the side farthest from 

 the camp, and faced the direction of Mungaroo. When the men 

 and boys started to return to the main camp one of the men went 

 ahead, and announced that they would shortly arrive. All the 

 children, and all the gins — with the exception of those next men- 

 tioned — lay down outside of the convex end of the yard, and were 

 covered with bushes by the old men who had remained at the 

 main camp. The mothers, or female guardians, then entered the 

 enclosure, and formed into three groups according to their tribes, 

 each group having a flag* of their own, and taking up their position 

 on that side of the enclosure nearest their own district. As soon 

 as they were settled in their places, they were blindfolded by 

 tying handkerchiefs over their eyes and round their heads. When 

 all was ready, the messenger above referred to, went back and 

 met the men and boys coming from Mungaroo, and they all 

 came on and marched into the bough yard. Each guardian led 

 his catechumen to his mother, or female relative discharging the 

 parental duty, who felt the boy's hands and face till she was satis- 

 fied that he was the same person who was handed over to the men at 

 the larger circle on the Bora ground. During this manipulation 

 neither the women nor the boys were allowed to speak. The 

 mothers then had their eyes uncovered, and the boys went through 

 a short dance before them. During this dance the guardians 

 withdrew, and a great smokef was made by burning green bushes 

 at the entrance to the yard. At the conclusion of the dance the 

 catechumens plunged through the dense smoke, and proceeded 

 with their guardians to a separate camp which had been provided 

 for them in a sandalwood scrub about one hundred and fifty yards 

 southerly from the new camp. They were not allowed to look 

 back at the enclosure which they had just left ; and as soon as 

 they were out of sight, the women and children who had been 

 lying down were allowed to rise and join the other women, after 

 which they all returned to the main camp from which they had 



* The use of a flag is probably copied from the whitefellows. 

 f Anthr. Jour., vn., p. 252 ; lb., xiii., p. 455. 



