Ii)!f!<if!on Cercmoni'')^, Aruiifa Trihc. 145 



time when they will become fully initiated and admitted to all 

 the secrets of the tribe which are as yet kept hidden from them. 



The ceremony of throwing up is called " Alkirakiwuma "^ and 

 very shortly after this the boy has his nasal septum bored 

 through, usually by his father or paternal grandfather, and 

 begins to wear the nose bone. This boring is practised by men 

 and women alike and tlie operation is not attended with any 

 special ceremony. Amongst the women the boring is usually 

 done by the husband immediately after marriage and, it rnay be 

 remarked in passing, that in both sexes the constant wearing 

 of the nose bone emphasises the flattening out of the lobes 

 of the nose. 



A good many years may elapse between the throw'ing-up 

 ceremony and the performance of the two much more important 

 ceremonies of circumcision or Lartna and that of subincision or 

 Ariltha. Speaking generally it may be said that circumcision 

 may take place at any age after the boy has arrived at puberty. 

 Up to this time he is spoken of as " Ulpmerka," after the two 

 ceremonies have been performed he becomes an " Ertwa-kurka " 

 — that is an initiated man eligible to take a wife and to be 

 admitted to all the tribal secrets, though it may be many years 

 before he is instructed in certain of them. 



The Second Ceremony. — Circumcision op Lartna. 



AVhen it has been decided by the boy's elder male relatives 

 (usually his elder brothers blood and tribal) that he has arrived 

 at the proper age, preparations are made, unknown to the 

 Ulpmerka, for the ceremony. These consist first of all in the 

 gathering together of a large supply of food material, for the 

 ceremonies are attended with the performance of what are 

 usually spoken of as corrobborees, which last over several days. 



In the following account- which deals with the ceremony as 

 enacted by the natives living on the banks of the Finke near to 

 a spot called Undiara, one of the most important local centres 



1 Derived from Alkira, the sky, and wuiiia, to t)iro\v. 



2 In certain respects the details of tlie ceremony now described differ from those of the 

 ceremony already described by one of us in the Report of the Horn Expedition. This is 

 owint; to the fact that the details vary to a considerable extent in different localities. 



