surrounded by the men shouting "prr! wau!" and are taken away again, having been finally shown to their mothers.
They remain away in the bush for as long as twelve months, not being allowed to approach the camp or to come near a woman. They are forbidden during their probation, indeed even after it, until permitted by the old men, to eat, among other things, the emu, spiny ant-eater, female opossum, kangaroo-rat, bandicoot, etc. The emu is Baiame's food. Among many restrictive observances, they are not permitted to go to sleep at night until the Milky Way is straight across the sky.
When the old men are satisfied that the probation has been sufficient, and that the boys have duly observed the restrictions, one of them goes out and tells them that if they act properly and do not speak to women for a little longer, they will be permitted to come to the camp. It is at such visits that the old men gradually relax the food rules, for instance by rubbing the boy with the fat of the female opossum, which makes him able to eat that animal.
The Burbung of the Wonghibon
To the north of the Riverina branch of the Wiradjuri, whose ceremonies I have now briefly described, there is the Wonghi or Wonghibon tribe, described to me long ago by Mr. A. L. P. Cameron, and since reported on in his valuable paper "On Some Tribes of New South Wales."[1] I now quote his more complete description of the Burbung of that tribe.
The ceremonies of initiation are secret, and at them none but the men of the tribe who have been initiated attend with the novices. At the spot where the ceremonies are to be performed a large oval space is cleared. The old men of the tribe conduct the ceremonies, and the medicine-man of the tribe is the master of them. Part of the proceedings consist in the knocking out of a tooth, and giving a new designation to the novice, indicating the change from youth to manhood. When the tooth is knocked out, a loud
- ↑ Journ. Anthrop. Inst. vol. xiv. p. 344.
