ABORIGINALS OF EAST CENTRAL AISTRALTA. 515 



3.— THE HABITS, CUSTOMS, AND CEREMONIES OF 

 THE ABORIGINALS ON THE DIAMENTINA, 

 HERBERT, AND ELEANOR RIVERS, IX EAST 

 CENTRAL AUSTRALIA. 



% FRANCIS H. WELLS, of the South Australian Police Department. 



Tribes. — The natives of the localities named belong to the 

 Andrawilla tribe, and occupy a block of country about ninety 

 by ninety miles. This chief tribe is sub-divided into smaller 

 tribes or clans, viz. : — Andrawilla, Kuntapunchinna, Dickeri, 

 Kyratonka, Kertie-terrie, Yumalla, Keira. Dipracoolie, Tunbulla, 

 Koringurra, Kalkaparichinna, Mundowalla, Tippaminkinna, and 

 Dampaminnie ; these tribal names being taken from the names of 

 various waterholes in the locality inhabited by the tribe, such as 

 Andrawilla, Kyratonka. Sec. Both men and women are tattooed on 

 the breast, arms, and legs, different patterns being adopted by 

 each tribe, such as emu foot on the Dickeri tribe, and iguana tail 

 on the Andrawilla tribe. This operation is performed at the age 

 of twelve years. 



Individuals are named after animals, birds, plants, fish, or fire. 

 A native so named after an animal regards it as sacred, refusing to 

 kill or eat it, believing that if he did so he would become very ill 

 (wi-wi) and die. 



They have no ceremony corresponding to baptism or appointing 

 godfathers or godmothers ; but if the mother of a child should be 

 called away for a few hours, and during her absence the child 

 should be suckled by another woman of the tribe, then this woman 

 is for the future considered a " picanniny " mother, and her 

 husband a " picanniny " father to the child. 



When twins are born, and one should happen to be a male 

 child, he is killed. Half-caste children of either sex, when born, 

 are always killed and occasionally eaten by the tribe. 



When a boy is sixteen years of age he is circumcised. The 

 operation is performed at suiu'ise by six old men, with pieces of 

 sharp flint. A girdle of woman's hair about '20ft. in length is 

 then very tightly wound around the boy's waist, the ends hanging 

 down in front and forming a tassel. At about the age of twenty- 

 five years a further operation is performed, the urethra being split 

 open by cutting with a sharp flint ; but this custom is not observed 

 in all cases. The noses of both males and females are bored with 

 a piece of bone and their two front teeth knocked out when they 

 are children. Three old women perform this operation, using a 

 pointed stick and stone. 



Marriage. — A man guilty of fornication with a woman of his 

 own tribe is liable to be killed, and the woman is branded all over 

 the back and posterior. When a man Avants a wife he must give 

 a sister to the tribe from whom he wishes to obtain his spouse. He 



