Page:Notes on the Aborigines of New South Wales.djvu/14

Rh When all the tribes who are expected to attend the Bora have arrived at the main camp, the headmen assemble at the ngooloobul, or private meeting place, and after a consultation among themselves, they fix the day on which the novices will be taken away for the purppose of initiation.

Early in the morning the novices are painted with red ochre, and are brought into the ring, and placed sitting down on the bank, their mothers and the other women being outside, hidden behind a screen of boughs erected for that purpose. All the women and children are then told to lie down, and are covered over with rugs, bushes, or grass, which have been placed in readiness for the purpose, and a few men armed with spears are deputed to watch that the covering is not removed.

When all the arrangements have been completed, the sound of the bull-roarer is heard in the direction of Baiamai's ground, and the men at the camp stand in a semicircle outside the ring, beating together two nulla-nullas, or any other two weapons which happen to be at hand. One of the headmen then call out in his own language "Here he comes,"—others shout "Go away," to make the women believe they are addressing Dhurramoolan, a malevolent being, who is supposed to preside over the ceremonies. A number of men are now seen coming along the track from the direction of the goomee, and enter the circle and run inside the bank, beating the ground with pieces of bark, mungawans, about 2 ft. 6 in. long, 4 inches at the widest end, and 2 inches at the other, so that they can lie gripped in the hand. The men have a mungawan in each hand, with which they forcibly strike the ground alternately at every step, but utter no other sound. Having gone round the circle once, they run away noiselessly along the track to the goomee. As soon as they have gone, some of the men standing round pick up firesticks, and throw them into the ring, scattering the embers about, for the purpose of making the women believe Dhurramoolan did this when he came for the novices. There are also two men, one on each side of the circle, vigorously swinging bull-roarers. When these two men become giddy, caused by turning around, others take their places. Amid the terrific and deafening din made by the rattling of weapons, and the weird noise of the bull-roarers (murrawans), the guardians advance and catch their respective novices by the arm above the elbow, and lift them to their feet. The boys are strictly enjoined to hold their heads down, and their arms close by their sides, and they are marched away by their guardians along the track, followed by the men with the bull-roarers.

When the guardians and novices are out of sight, the covering is removed from the women and children, and they are permitted to rise. On looking all around, and seeing the fire scattered about and the boys gone, they give vent to their feelings in the usual native fashion. The fathers and relatives of the boys, and some other men not immediately connected with the ceremonies, pack up their things and start away after the novices. The women and children, assisted by a number of the men who remain with them, now pack up and remove the camp to a place several miles distant, each tribe selecting its quarters on the side towards its own country. It is imperative, according to ancient tribal custom, to remove the camp to a new site after the boys have been taken away.

In the meantime, the guardians have taken the novices away along the track, their eyes being cast upon the ground at their feet, and on reaching a clear space near the commencement of the gammunyamun, they are