NOKTil tiUKKNSLAND lirilNOGKAPHY KOTIl. 31 



only subsequently to having attended tlie initiation dances some 

 two or three times. The operation is performed by one of the 

 older men as follows, both sexes being mutilated at the same 

 time. A pit about three feet in diameter is sunk, and a bush- 

 fence constructed along three quarters of its circumference, 

 near the break in the bush a group of elders sit, with a line of 

 women on one side and men on the other, all lying upon their 

 left elbov-vs, each one coming up in turn to undergo the ordeal. 

 One of the old men rests each individual's head on his open thigh, 

 so as to be in a position convenient for pressing a thin wooden 

 pencil on the pai-ticiilar tooth, and so hammering it out ; as each 

 tooth falls out he calls out the name of the individual's home, 

 i.e., the locality whence Anje-a brought his Clio-i^-. The teeth 

 are all thrown into the pit, into which the blood is also spat and 

 then covered up, the patient's bodies being smeared over with 

 charcoal. 



21. In North- West Queensland, as well as up and down the 

 Diamantina River, this custom of avulsion is gradually dying 

 out; it is a mutilation which is ])erfectly voluntary, may be 

 practised by both sexes, and most certainly at the present time 

 has nothing whatever to do with any of the initiation ceremonies. 

 In the Boulia District, the gums all round the teeth to be ex- 

 tracted are loosened with the thumb and finger nails; this 

 loosening is then aided by biting hard into a stick held trans- 

 versely in the mouth for a good ten minutes or so. The indi- 

 vidual in squatting position, with head raised, now holds a strong 

 stick vertically behind the two to be extracted, and pushes it 

 tirmly upwards and forwards, while a friend liammers away from 

 the front with a wooden "chisel " driven by a heavy stone for a 

 mallet. In the Upper Georgina District the patient lies on liis 

 back with head touching the ground, while his friend takes a 

 stick which he presses against the teeth to be removed and 

 hammers away until they are broken out. 



22. Around Princess Charlotte Baj^ avulsion is a preliminary 

 to betrothal in the case of the males, and to consummation of 

 marriage in the femnles. The right oi- left upper incisor may be 

 removed ; this is effected by hammering as before, with the 

 individual's head resting on the lap of one of his mates, but here 

 the subsequent hemorrhage is controlled by burning with a fire- 

 stick The removed tooth is flung into water or buried. From 

 this time onwards the boy leaves his mother's and sister's camps, 

 to sleep with the single young men, though he continues to go 



12 Roth— Bull. 5— Sect. 68. 



