ABORIGINES OF THE SOUTH-EAST COAST OF N. S. WALES. 277 



margin of the main camp, where all the chief men meet for private 

 consultations — this is called the bdhmbilly. 



The people being thus assembled, festive and ceremonial dances 

 are indulged in for a few evenings, which terminate in an apparent 

 quarrel among the men of the different families present. At dawn 

 on the following day all the initiated men meet at the bahmbilly, 

 with a small leafy bough in each hand, and start in a sinuous 

 course, in single file, and march through the entire camp, muster- 

 ing up all the boys they intend to initiate. When the old women, 

 and mothers of the lads, see all the men coming through the camp 

 in this way, they know what is about to take place, and commence 

 singing certain prescribed songs, called yah'anga, and beat time 

 on their folded skin rugs. As soon as the novices are assembled, 

 a guardian is appointed to each, and they are placed standing in 

 a clear space, with their heads bent down, surrounded by a cordon 

 of men who hide them from view. 



The mothers of the novices, and all the other women in the 

 camp, together with the little boys and girls, are also gathered up 

 in a convenient place where they are made to lie down, and are 

 covered over with bushes, grass, or rugs, a sufficient number of 

 men being appointed to keep guard over them, so that they may 

 see nothing of the subsequent proceedings. The mooroonga, or 

 bullroarer, is then sounded by a man assigned to that duty, and 

 the novices are marched away by their sponsors. When this 

 cortege gets out of sight of the women's camp, a stoppage is made 

 for the purpose of painting the boys with red ochre and grease, 

 and fastening a belt round the body of each. Strips of the skin 

 of the ring-tail opossum are tied round the upper arms of the 

 novices, and under this bandage, which is called nooroongal, is 

 inserted the small bone of a rock wallaby's leg, sharpened at one 

 end. If a boy wants to scratch any part of his body, he draws 

 out this bone and uses it for the purpose, because he is not allowed 

 to scratch himself with his finger nails. A rug is now adjusted 

 over each novice's head in such manner that he sees only the 

 ground at his feet. The Kooringal, or band of strong active men 



