NOHTH QUKENSLANl) KTilNOORAPHV — ROTH. 45- 



tribe. ^^ nor does it distinguish tlie different exogaiiious groups. 

 Amongst the Brisbane BIhcIcs, the pattern did distinguisli the 

 tribe {T. Petrie). On the Tully River, the more prominent the 

 belly-scars are in a man, the more is he thought of l)y the women; 

 indeed, in tlie full development of these particular cicatrices lies 

 the conception of the female's highest ideal of a member of the 

 opposite sex, but women do not care for a boy too soon afler he 

 has been cut. Throughout the North Westeiii Districts, on the 

 Bloonitield River, etc., the scarring has notliing whatever to do 

 witli the initiation ceremonies, whereas on the Tully River, in 

 tlie Rockhampton and Brisbane areas it certainly has or had. 



43. Tlie place for incision is first of all niiuked in with cliarcoiil 

 or gypsum, and the cut made with a flaked flint, shell,'* ■'' or quartz, 

 now often replaced by glass ; on the Tully River, two incisions are 

 made along thesame area, a superficial and a deep one. Tlieaccount 

 of what follows varies in the different districts, the idea prevalent 

 being apparently to prevent too early union of the edges of the 

 wound, which on the Bloomfield River may sometimes be purposely 

 kept open for a month or two. At Boulia, the natives rub bits 

 of Portidaca oleracea, Linn, (the local " Pig-weed ") into it for 

 upwards of a quarter of an hour, and say that the nature of the 

 elevation depends upon whether the particular individual has a 

 tight or a loose skin, wliile the picking at it with the fingers is 

 also subsequently adopted at intervals to make it "jump up." 

 At Glenormiston and at Roxburgh Downs a quantity of bird's or 

 other blood is said to be put on the wound so as to increase the 

 size of tlie clot, while further up the Georgina River, at Head- 

 ingley, a boy lokl me that amongst his own (Yaro-inga) people 

 the wound is rubbed into with charcoal. The Cloncurry Blacks 

 assured me that feather-down is first of all put on to prevent the 

 blood running off, i.e., to cause coagulation, and left theie for 

 two or three days until such time as the wound gets " rotten " 

 and the "yellow muck," ^.e., pus, runs out; the latter is next 

 removed by rubbing fat into it, and the wound "grows himself 

 then." On the Pennefather River, the scars are briskly rubbed 

 into with the milky sap of Alyxia splcata, R.Br. (NGG. wai-peri), 

 and on the Bloomfield with clay, whilst the Tully River 



■^^ Yet here and there amongst certain of the tribe may he observed dis- 

 tinctive scars which are not met with elsewhere {e.r/., circular scar around 

 the umbilicus at Prince Charlotte Bay, square shoulder scar at the Penne- 

 father River), giving rise to the suspicion that originally these decorative 

 cheloids may have distinguished tribe or group. 



*5 e.g., Tellina perna, Spengler, and Tellina foUacm, Linn., ou the 

 Pennefather River. 



