THE BURBUNG OR INITIATION CEREMONY. : 143 
finger nail pushes back the gum from the tooth to be extracted, 
He then puts his own lower teeth under the tooth and pulls out- 
ward and upward—the stick which is across the boy’s mouth pre- 
venting him from biting the man’s lip. This is done with the 
professed intention of loosening the tooth, and blackfellows have 
told me that occasionally it comes out under this treatment. If 
not, this is accomplished by placing one end of a narrow piece of 
wood or stone, called wallwng, against the tooth, and hitting the 
other end with a stone or wooden mallet used asahammer. The 
tooth is then taken out of the boy’s mouth with the man’s fingers 
and the gum pressed together. As each tooth is produced and 
held up, all the men present shout “ Wir-r-r!” in unison. While 
the ceremony is going on, a bullroarer (mudjeegang ) is occasion- 
ally sounded in the bush not far off. The blood flowing from the 
wounded gum is swallowed by the boy. The guardians now assist 
the novices to withdraw their feet from the holes, which are then 
filled up, and the surface of the ground strewn over with rubbish 
the same as it was before being cleared. The boys are freed from 
wearing the rugs over their heads from this time forth. 
The novices are then conducted back to the camp and after 
Supper they are taken a little way into the bush with the men 
under the pretext of looking for water to allay their thirst. When 
they have walked some distance, one of the men who has gone 
away unobserved by the boys, whistles, and calls out “I think 
there is water over here.” The men and boys then proceed in 
that direction but go too far. The man then again whistles and 
they turn back and find him sitting down, apparently perishing 
from thirst, and he tells them he has not found any water. The 
kooringal then corroboree round him and shout. 
After that they all go back to the camp, and the boys are 
placed lying down in their own quarters. Ina short time the 
men pretend to quarrel among themselves about something, angry 
words being mutually exchanged, and the men get their weapons 
ready. The novices think a conflict is imminent, but after some 
further recriminations peace is apparently restored. A detach- 
