48 RECORDS OF THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. 



is believed to assist in making tlie boy grow. A boy with such 

 a cut is known as a kokai-kokai. The belly-ones (MAL. 

 moingga) are made at tlie initiation ceremonj" and are also 

 essential, indeed all males must have both these previously to 

 being married. They are cut somewhat as follows: — About an 

 hour or two l)efore sunset, the bara nut wliich has been specially 

 prepared by the women is crammed into the novices -^ lio, when 

 quite " stodged" so to speak, are forced to drink more and more 

 water, and are not allowed to speak, with the result that the 

 belly becomes grossly distended. The youth lies on his Itack, 

 with head resting on an old man's lap while the lines along 

 which the cuts are to be made, are marked out with charcoal. 

 One of the elder men will express a wish to Of^erate and he is 

 chosen, or two may be chosen. At any late, the operator takes 

 a small flint-flake (kwi-an) between his thumb and forefinger and 

 gauges the depth of tlie pi'oposed incision by the amount of stone 

 projecting. There is a single quick cut for each scar, and while 

 doing so he calls out "ku ! ku ! ku ! etc.," this noise being sup- 

 posed to prevent the youth hearing the sound of the flint as it 

 cuts through the flesh. There are generally about six of these 

 cuts made ; they are allowed to bleed well, and finally yellow 

 mud is rubbed all over the belly. If the scars smart and hurt a 

 good deal, it is signiflcatory that they were not cut at exactly 

 the riglit time, an hour or two before sunset. If long in healing, 

 it means that a woman saw him during the ceremony without 

 his bark-blanket wrapped round liim. Lastly, if the scars do 

 not develop prominently it is indicative that he has been tamper- 

 ing with a woman already ; sucli an individual would be ridiculed 

 and called burlchul, a term meaning any small mark. After 

 the belly-cuts, the lad is no longer known as a kokai-kokai but 

 as a ngu-tcha. Among the optional ones, which may be put on 

 at any time are two or three vertical ones on the outer shoulders 

 and a ring of smaller vertical ones on the arm, these scars, like 

 those on the back are known as kargal (MAL.) and are said to 

 have l^een introduced here from the Townsville District Blacks. 

 Other o])tional scars are the half-moon ones (MAL. ngau-o) over 

 the breast, very small horizontal cuts on either side of the 

 median line of the chest as far down as the chiudal, and pairs of 

 small horizontal cuts on either side of the vertebral column""^. 

 In the females, the scars, if any, though they are not essential, 

 are put on only after marriage and tlien by the husbands ; they 

 may be cut on the arms and l)ack with small ones on the l)uttock, 

 but there are never any on the belly. 



*" For tho scars cut oil tlie buitocks of expert climbers, see under Tree- 

 Climbing — Bull. 17— Sect. 8, footnote. 



