ABOEIGINAL BOEA. 125 



been at one Bora previously, and attended this one to be further 

 instructed or admitted as full men of the tribe. As stated before, 

 these young men were allowed to see everything upon the Bora 

 ground, and had all the devices explained to them. Five or six 

 of these were half-castes. It will therefore be seen that in all 

 about forty-three young men attended the Bora I have been 

 describing. 



Many of the blacks who attended this Bora could speak fairly 

 good English, and were able to understand the purport of questions 

 and give suitable replies. Some of them were very intelligent 

 men who could give a clear and progressive account of all that 

 took place. This was a very great advantage to me in collecting 

 my information, because most previous writers have either found 

 that they could not fully understand the blacks, or that the latter 

 could not properly understand them. Henderson, in his able 

 work before quoted, complains of this disadvantage. 



Other Bora Grounds. — In conclusion I wish to refer to the form 

 and position of Bora grounds generally, and the direction of one 

 circle from another, because this part of the subject has received 

 little or no attention from previous writers, and what little has 

 been said is of a misleading character, owing to conclusions having 

 been formed without sufficient investigation. 



In the Boras described by Collins and Ridley respectively, 

 referred to in this paper, they mention only one circle, and their 

 descriptions of the grounds are likewise too meagre and indefinite 

 to be of much value in that respect. 



In the plan given by Henderson (Plate 4, fig. 2) which I have 

 accurately copied from his work previously quoted in this paper, 

 he does not state the direction of the pathway, but he shows that 

 it was not straight. His plan does not appear to be drawn to 

 scale, but it gives a good general representation of the Bora ground 

 described by him. 



Dr. Fraser, in a pamphlet published by him in 1892, gives a plan 

 of a Bora ground showing a straight pathway running east from 



