30 RKCORDS OF THE AUSVHALIAN MUSKUM. 



i-mina) is made from the shell of the Meg alatr actus aruanus, 

 Linn. Unless the shell is fresh, it is soaked for some two or 



tliree days in water ; the operator, 

 by means of a stone, then chips 

 out the portion indicated (fig. 17), 

 and grinds it down with water, 

 the "rib" finally constituting the 

 nose-pin. This imina is eniploj^ed 

 by men only, the women using 

 Fig- i"- a piece of grass. Similarly, be- 



tween the ^Mitchell and Staaten Rivers, amongst the Gunanni, 

 the men alone make and use bone ones (GUN. rau-wor-injala) 

 and the women grass-reeds (GUN. mo-banggir). Amongst other 

 articles utilised I have observed the unfertilised flower-stalk 

 of one of the Banksias (Bloom field River), a piece of Bamboo 

 (Erabley River), or other kind of timi)er cut bluff at the ex- 

 tremities, spirally ornamented (Cape Grafton) or not, a feather- 

 quill, etc. Wooden nose-pins may also be put in the ear-holes 

 when such have been pierced. On the Embley River the nose- 

 pin (wood or reed) may be decorated with a bead of tiie Aden- 

 anthera abrosperma, F.v.M., or Abrus precalorius, Linn., at 

 either extremity ; used by the women as a sign of mourning, 

 sometimes by the men as a decortion. Local names : — Capes 

 Bedford and Grafton, tal)ul ; Atherton, yimpala ; Tull}' River, 

 imbala. PPT. milya perkilli ( = nose large). 



19. I'ooth-Avulsion. — The knocking out of one or other or both 

 upper central incisors is practised tliroughout the Peninsula, the 

 North West Districts, at Prince.ss Charlotte B-aj, on the Palmer 

 River and distiict around it, and on the East Coast, at the 

 Bloomfield River, till very recently on the Endeavour River, and 

 formerly as far south as the Kep|><.'] Islands. It is ab.sent 

 amongst the scrub-blacks of the Lower Tully. When present, 

 it ni^y either, be connected with, e.(j., Keppel Island ^^, Princess 

 Charlotte Bay, or (juite dissociated from any of the initiation 

 ceremonies ; tlie mutilation is not always ol)ligatory with either 

 sex. That the custom has been in vogue for ages past is prob- 

 able from the fact that in none of the.se Queensland languages 

 are there any th, v, f, or *•, sounds, which require these teeth for 

 their proper enunciation. 



20. On the Pennefather River avulsion was customary in both 

 sexes and performed after the individual had arrived at the full 

 completion of pu'ierty, after marriage, and in the case of a male 



11 On the authority of Mr. W. H. Ftowers. 



