THE BURBUNG OR INITIATION CEREMONY. 151 
away sends messengers to the tribe to which the owner of the 
tooth belongs, stating that it will be brought back at such a time. 
On receipt of this message, preparations are made to meet the 
strange people at the time appointed. On these occasions it is 
the custom for each tribe to make presents to the other, which 
takes the form of exchange or barter. Supposing for example 
that there is plenty of suitable stone for making hatchets' and 
whetstones in the country belonging to one tribe, they will 
exchange these commodities with the men of another tribe, in 
whose country there may be suitable wood for making spears and 
other weapons. People who have coloured clays will exchange 
them for skins of animals not plentiful in their own country. 
Others will have string made of the bark of certain trees, richly 
coloured feathers of rare birds, reeds for making light spears, and 
8o on, which they exchange for other articles. It may be that 
some of the men and women exchange exactly similar articles 
with the people of another tribe merely as mementos of their 
meeting. 
At these gatherings, the hosts arrange themselves in a line, 
with their presents and other commodities lying on the ground 
near them. The visitors advance and form into a row opposite 
the hosts, and display their presents in a similar manner. The 
headman who has brought back the tooth returns it to the boy’s 
father, who subsequently hands it over to his son. After some 
time it is buried in the ground, 
Conclusion.— With the exception of a short paper on the Bur- 
bung of the natives of the Upper Lachlan River,” this is the first 
detailed account of the initiation ceremonies of the Wiradthuri — 
tribes published in any of the Australian colonies. Moreover, the 
first account of the Burbung of these tribes which has hitherto 
been published in England is that contained in two short papers 
1 See my paper on “Stone Impl ts used by mg Aborigines.’’—Journ. 
Roy. Soc. N. S. Wales, xxVIIt., "301 — 305, Plate 4: 
2 “ The Initiation Ceremonies of the Aborigines sf the Upper Lachlan.” 
—Proc. Roy. Geog. Soc. Aust. b ), XI-, 167 - 169. 
