THE BURBUNG OR INITIATION CEREMONY. 117 
were defined by a groove cut into the turf by means of flat sticks 
sharpened at one end to form a kind of spade; others were com- 
posed of the loose earth heaped up so as to resemble the horizontal 
image of the required object. 
Amongst these drawings on the ground were the following: a _ 
large figure of Baiamai and the imprint of a gigantic human hand; 
a kangaroo; a mallee hen’s nest; a canoe with a paddle beside it; 
a spear, boomerang, waddy andtomahawk. Interspersed amongst 
these drawings were masses of yammunyamun or yowan patterns,” 
always met with on Wiradthuri and Kamilaroi initiation grounds. 
In a forked branch of one of the trees, twenty or thirty feet from 
the ground, an imitation of an eagle-hawk’s nest? was formed of 
twigs and sticks. 
On one side of the path, not far from the goombo, an image of 
Dhurramoolun was formed of mud or clay about four or five feet 
high, having only one leg. In order to give it greater stability, 
this mud figure was propped against a tree. Between this image 
and the goombo was a fire ( woongonyalbil ). It was kindled on 
top of a low heap of earth built up for the purpose, and any of 
the men who happened to be near it replenished the fuel when 
required. 
An incident occurred in connection with the last gathering 
which took place on this Burbung ground, which is of consider- 
able interest, inasmuch as it shows the course pursued by the 
natives when any unforseen event occurs to make it necessary to 
abandon the Burbung ground during the progress of the cere- 
monies. On that occasion very heavy rains had fallen on the 
Sources of the Murrumbidgee River, causing a flood, which spread 
©ver all the low lands around the camp, and filled the watercourse 
(see sketch) between the Burbung ring and the Goombo. All the 
tribes present then shifted from their quarters near the Burbung, 
and went about six miles farther down the river to a place where i 
there was some high dry ground, and erected a new camp. 
oo. es Inst., re xxv., 300. 
Loe. ¢ ., B02. 3 Loe. cit., xxv., 300. 
