INITIATION CEREMONIES OF THE ABORIGINES OF PORT STEPHENS. 123 



The custom of knocking out one of the front teeth during the 

 ceremony is not now in vogue amongst the Kutthung, nor is it 

 certain that it ever existed amongst them, and of late years the 

 practice of ornamenting the bodies with scars has fallen into disuse. 

 It is more than probable that the last keeparra has been held by 

 them; for as each year goes by their numbers dwindle, and in 

 January 1899, they were not able to get a sufficient number of 

 aborigines together to enable them to celebrate the ceremony. 

 Many of those I have met along the coast had never gone through 

 the keepaara, but had been merely initiated into the dhalgai, a 

 sister ceremony, much shorter however than the keeparra, and 

 needing for its practice no assemblage of adjoining tribes nor any 

 prepared ground ; in fact it requires but a half dozen men who 

 have passed through the keeparra, and the use of a goonanduckyer, 

 to enable the youth to be initiated. As the dhalgai ceremony 

 amongst the Kutthung does not differ from that already described 

 by Mr. R. H. Mathews, I will refer my readers to his work 1 for 

 an account of it. 



The burri 2 of the tribe whose initiation ceremony I have here 

 described, extended along the Karuah River's southern bank and 

 the southern shore of Port Stephens to Pipeclay Creek, whose 

 western bank formed the eastern boundary of their territory; but 

 the southern and western boundaries were uncertain or rather I 

 received varying accounts from different individuals. These 

 boundaries were no doubt strictly adhered to before the advent of 

 Europeans, but afterwards when tribes were killed off or driven 

 from their territories the boundaries of adjoining burris would be 

 changed, and this would account for the discrepancies in the state- 

 ments I have received. The country on the north side of Port 

 Stephens and the Karuah extending down to the right bank of 

 the Myall River belonged to the Gummipingal ; ! the land lying 



1 Journ. Anthrop. Inst., xxvi., 338 - 340. 



2 District belonging to a tribe. 



3 " People of the Spear." Gummi a spear, and gal people. The grass 

 trees from which the material for spear handles was obtained grew 

 abundantly in this district. 



