INITIATION CEREMONIES OF THE ABORIGINES OF PORT STEPHENS. 119 



Before leaving for the new camp a doolbhi 1 is erected outside 

 the ring to indicate to any other tribes who arrive later on, the 

 direction in which it is situated. Near this new camp, which is 

 called Ulra,, 2 a piece of ground is neatly swept and two fires are 

 lighted thereon some distance apart. On this playground which 

 has been thus prepared, the women and girls dance every evening 

 during the absence of the boys. 



The women having been taken away as just described, the 

 novices whom we have left lying down at the goolga are ordered 

 to stand up and the rugs are then placed over their heads in the 

 form of cowls. They are then taken along the goolga towards the 

 goonambung, and on the way they are shown by the elders the 

 teeroong or various geometrical and other figures carved on the 

 trees. As far as I can learn, there are no figures carved on the 

 earth at the keeparra ground used by the Kutthung. None of 

 the aboriginals from whom I drew my information knew the mean- 

 ing of the teeroong. 



When the youths arrive at the goonambung they are taken 

 around it, and then marched towards the bush, the boys alongside 

 of their guardians, with their eyes intently fixed upon the ground 

 unti] they reach a suitable place, where a camp is formed in the 

 shape of a crescent or semicircle with two fires in front of it, and 

 also a level space carefully cleared and swept. On this place every 

 night the men mimic the actions of various native animals, and 

 the goonanduckyer is sounded occasionally to impress the novices 

 who are informed, that it is the voice of Goolumbra, of whose 

 terrible powers they are warned. During their stay at this camp 

 which is called the keelaybang, the novice who is kept either in a 

 lying or sitting position, must not communicate by word with his 

 guardians, and is threatened with severe penalties if he does so. 



1 " Doolbhi " consists of a forked piece of timber inserted in the ground 

 with another piece tied at right angles to it a little distance from the 

 ground pointing in the direction of the new camp. If there are any 

 streams between the boolbung and the new camp, they are represented 

 by twigs fastened across the pointer equal in number to the streams. 



2 Ulra appears to be a name given to any kind of camp. 



