hole filled, the bough held by the girl is solemnly demanded of her by the two old women, who burn it in the fires, which are then raked together and made one. The mother, or nearest female relative, at this stage removes the girl from her position on the log, and leads her to her father's miam. At night a corrobboree is held; the father of the girl leads the dance, and the young men who took part in the day's ceremony form the first corrobboree. In the second all the young men join. At intervals a young woman, having on the emu apron (tilburnin), dances alone. The young men who threw the twigs and bit off the food are understood to have covenanted with her not to assault her, and, further, to protect her until she shall be given away lawfully to her betrothed: but the agreement extends no further; she may entertain any of them of her own free will as a lover.
Narra-mang.
One of my correspondents gives this account of the ceremonies practised on the "making of young men":—Narra-mang—the name given to a custom of the blacks of the Murrumbidgee, Murray, Ovens, and Goulburn tribes—consists essentially in the knocking out of two of the incisor teeth of the upper-jaw. It may perhaps be regarded as a religious ceremony, in the performance of which many mystic rites are observed—rites that no white man is permitted to witness unless he be one who has the confidence and regard of the old men. The operation is performed at the age of puberty, and the teeth of the males only are knocked out. When a lad has to be initiated, he is removed to some remote and secluded spot, and when it is night, the coradjes (priests and doctors), painted and decorated with feathers, &c., begin their operations. A ring is marked out, and in this the youths are placed, one at a time; incantations are uttered by the priests; and, finally, one of them, holding in one hand a piece of wood shaped like a punch, and in the other a tomahawk, approaches the youth and knocks out two teeth. When this has been done, the young man is placed in a gunyah, formed of boughs, so closely interwoven as to be nearly impervious to light, and then the wild songs of the women are heard, who approach and walk round the gunyah, each holding in her hand a lighted brand.
For the space of one moon the youths are prohibited from seeing any one except the coradjes. If they are seen by a female, they will surely die. When this ordeal is passed, and not before, they are permitted to eat of the flesh of the My-ioa (black swan), and that of the Joh-gah (musk-duck), and they may then also eat of the emu.
Some of the chants are of this kind:—
| 'Tis now that you are sick, | |
| Therr-an-jee-gar jabery-mah Johans Joh-gah—&c. | But soon will grow your beard, |
| And on the magic musk-duck | |
| With the men you shall feed. |
Jerryale, etc.
Mr. A. W. Howitt, of Bairnsdale, in Gippsland, has sent me the following account of the ceremony known as Jerryale:—
"A youth of twelve or fifteen, or a man of any age, may be made 'Jerryale,' that is, as expressed by the blacks themselves in their broken English, 'made a
