INITIATION CEREMONIES. GAMES. SUPERSTITION. 449 



much admired. The lads also generally have to undergo a 

 ceremony of initiation before they are permitted to rank as 

 men. This sometimes consists in circumcision,* sometimes 

 in another almost incredible ceremonial,-)- or frequently in 

 punching out one of the front teeth. Other tribes have pecu- 

 liar and distinctive incisions, such as scars running across the 

 chest, circles on the shoulders, or various combinations of 

 small dots. 



In the Adelaide district, according to Mr. Moorhouse, there 

 are five distinct stages of initiation, before the native is 

 admitted to all the privileges of a man. Yet the Australians 

 cannot be said to have any form of government, nor have any 

 distinctions of rank, or recognized chiefs, ever been found 

 amongst them. 



The children have a game with string something like our 

 cat's-cradle, but their principal amusements consist in learn- 

 ing to hunt, fish, etc. The elder people are fond of dances, 

 which may be divided into war-dances, hunting-dances, and 

 love-dances, the two latter being most common. These 

 generally take place when tribes meet, and are held at night. 

 Their songs are rude, with simple and generally extempore 

 words. 



They have no systematized religion, nor any worship or 

 prayer; but most of them have an indistinct dread of evil 

 beings, which, though mysterious, cannot, I think, be said to 

 be regarded as supernatural. They all have a great fear of 

 the dark, and of witchcraft. In fact, they believe that no one 

 ever dies a natural death. 



Captain Wilkes^: describes an Australian funeral as follows. 

 Almost immediately after death the corpse was arranged in a 

 sitting posture, the knees bent up close to the body, the head 



* Eyre, vol. ii. p. 332. J I.e. vol. ii. p. 195 ; Fitzroy, I.e. 



t Finditur usque ad urethram a vol. ii. p. 628. 

 parte iniera penis. 



2G 



