Page:An Australian language as spoken by the Awabakal.djvu/136

 50 A^ austealia:n" LAyauAGE.

a curve in its orbit from and to the thrower; to effect this, it is thrown against tlie wind; but in war it is thrown against the ground ; it then rebounds apparently with double violence, and strikes some distant object, aud wounds severely with its sharpened extremities.

Y a r r o, m., an egg. But, used in a mystic sense, to the initiated ones it means ' lire or water.' And by the use of this term in asking for either element, the fraternity can discover them- selves to each other. The men, after the tooth is knocked out in the Bora rites, call women k u u n a i k a r a, and themselves J i r a b a i ; previous to which the men are styled, k oro m u n. The ceremony of initiation takes place every three or four years as young lads arrive at the age of puberty ; mystic rings are made in the woods, aud numerous ceremonies are gone through before the operation of displacing a tooth from the upper jaw ; this is effected by three steady blows with a stout piece of hard wood, in shape like a punch, from the hand of the k ara k al ; after that, the youth may seize a woman ; he becomes a member of the tribe and engages in their fights.

Yulug, the name of the ring in which the tooth is knocked out. The trees are marked near the ring with rude repre- sentation of locusts, serpents, and other things, on the bark ; these are chopped with an axe; aud copies of the nests of various quadrupeds are formed on the ground near the spot. The celebrants dance for several days every morning and evening, continuing the whole of the night ; no women are allowed to join in the ceremony.

��(2) GEOQEAPHICAL NAMES.

Awaba, Lake Macquarie ; the word means ' a plain surface.' B i w o g k u 1 a, the place of red ti-trees ; from b i w o g, ' red ti-tree.' B o i k 6 n u m b a, a place of ferns ; from b o i k o n, ' fern.' B o u n, the site of VVallis's Plains ; from a bird of that name. B 11 1 b a, an island ; any place surrounded with water. B u 1 k a r a, any mountain ; from b u 1 k a, ' the back ' of a man

or a beast. B u 1 1 a b a, the name of a hiH on the margin of the Lake, fjrarawantara, any plain, a flat.

■G-oloyauwe, a point of land on the south side of the Lake, (xdrroinba, the female-emu place; from gdrroin, 'the

female emu ' ; ' the male emu ' is k 6 g k o r 6 g, from his cry. ^rurranba, a place of brambles; from g u r r a n, an inferior

sort of ' bramble.' K a i a r a b a, a place of ' sea-weeds.'

Karakunba, a place of 'swamp-oaks,' which is a species of pine. K e e 1 - k e e 1 b a, a place of ' grass-tree.'

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