136 R. H. MATHEWS. 
of the district where their sons have been taken by the old men. 
They sing and shout and wave the spears with the tails attached, 
in that direction, and then run back to their own camp, inserting 
the spears in the ground as before. Their yamsticks, with the 
bushes attached, are also kept stuck in the ground in a similar 
manner. If one of these spears or yamsticks should fall or be 
accidently knocked down, it is considered a bad omen, forewarning 
danger to the son of the owner of the weapon. 
Eyery man or woman who has been out hunting during the 
day is met by one or more of the mothers on returning to the 
camp. They run towards the new arrival as he approaches, and 
wave the spear with the dhallaboolga attached to it, quite close 
to his face, and then run back to the dhunda. 
Some of the old men remain at the new camp to see that all 
the tribal customs are strictly carried out. Communication is 
kept up between them and the men who are out with the novices; 
and the day the latter are notified to return, a bough yard, called 
thurrawonga or cudthalderry is erected a short distance from the 
camp, towards the quarters in which the ngoorang is situated.’ 
This yard is semi-oval in shape, being about forty feet across the 
open end, and about twenty-five feet from there to the back wall 
The walls of this enclosure, which are five or six feet high, are 
built of saplings, forks, and bushes, placed close together, so as to 
form a dense screen. One or more narrow openings, arched over 
the top with boughs, are left in the convex end, through which 
the contingent from the bush will enter on their arrival, as 
described farther on. Around each side, within this partial 
enclosure, a platform is erected by placing sheets of bark on top 
of logs laid around for the purpose. 
About nightfall, all the women, accompanied by such of the 
men as may be in the camp, proceed to the thurrawonga, inside 
of which the men light a fire. The mothers of the novices are 
painted with marks of pipeclay and red ochre about the face, chest 
os a 
1 Journ. Anthrop. Inst., Lond., xxv., 309. 
