GROUP DIVISIONS AND INITIATION CEREMONIES. 241 



The GROUP DIVISIONS and INITIATION" CEREMONIES 

 of the BARKUNJEE TRIBES. 



By R. H. Mathews, l.s. 

 [With Plate XII.] 



[Read before the Royal Society of N. S. Wales, December 7, 1898.'] 



Introductory. 

 An aggregate of aboriginal tribes, with a social organisation 

 and inaugural rites sufficiently distinct from their neighbours to 

 justify their being ranked as a separate nation, occupy an exten- 

 sive territory in the western portion of New South Wales. The 

 most widely spread of these tribes is the Barkunjee, and I propose 

 adopting this term for the entire nation, represented on the 

 accompanying map as No. 1. The large and powerful communi- 

 ties of the Wiradjuri and Kamilaroi adjoin them on the east; 

 their northern limits extend into Queensland, where they are met 

 by the Kogai-Yuipera nation ; on the south they cross the Murray 

 River into Victoria. Their neighbours on the south-west were 

 the Narrinyeri and kindred tribes of the Lower Murray ; and 

 their western boundary was situated a little way withm the South 

 Australian frontier. 



It is beyond the scope of a short article like the present to 

 attempt to define the areas occupied by the people speaking the 

 different dialects prevalent in each of the numerous districts 

 included in this nation, but a few of the most important and best 

 known will be briefly referred to, and located in a general way. 

 From Mount Murchison down the Darling River to below Men- 

 indie, the Barkunjee are the prevailing people; above them are the 

 TJnelgo and Koonoo. The Bahroonjee occupy the Lower Paroo, 

 with the Byjerri above them ; and on the Lower Darling are 

 located the Marowera and Tungarlee tribes. From Wentworth 

 up the Murray to beyond Swan Hill are the following small tribes: 



P— Dec. 7, 1898. 



