233 



part of the foreskin. Some of these slits, being clumsily done, 

 extend nearly the whole length of the penis ; while others form 

 only a small hole, which sometimes has to be enlarged. Through 

 this slit they always pass their water. The pieces of foreskin are 

 taken away by the old men and thrown into a waterhole contain- 

 ing lilies. This is clone to j^revent the young men from becoming- 

 ill after the ceremony, which, indeed, so seldom occurs that the 

 fact of throwing these clippings into a waterhole is considered a 

 preventive beyond dispute. Each boy is then presented with an 

 outfit — first with a covering for his person, and then with the 

 various implements used in war or in the chase. No dressing- 

 whatever is used after the operation, and the wounds appear to 

 heal very rapidly. The object of performing- the ceremony at 

 daylight, or shortly before, is to prevent any of the young people 

 knowing- anything- of it, and this is the only occasion in which 

 any kind of decency is shown to the younger members of this 

 strange people. The night after the ceremony, and for several 

 nights following, a grand corroboree is performed, and it is 

 during these latter orgies that the young men are allotted their 

 wives — that is, so far as those are available for them ; but, as 

 subsequently stated, they generally obtain their wives from other 

 tribes by stealth or cajDture. 



While on this subject, I will describe a corresponding operation 

 which is performed on the young gins (23), and with the same 

 instrument. Formerly, that is, j^revious to the advent of the 

 white man, it was accompanied by a similar ceremony to that 

 above described, with the exception that the women took the 

 part of the yellow-cross warriors and of the elderly men in 

 charge of the boys. Young men, girls, and boys were not 

 allowed near " the circle " when the rite was performed. Now, 

 however, it is done without any ceremony. Tt is a most brutal 

 and inhuman ordeal, and the natives seem to have an idea that 

 if conducted with any pomp or display civilisation would not 

 tolerate it. It is now conducted as follows : — An old man, 

 generally a relative other than the father, takes the poor girl, 

 without the slightest warning, into seclusion, and with the piece 

 of flint previously described enlarges the opening- of the vagina ; 

 this operation, brutal in the extreme, must be, indeed, very 

 painful, as the cries are described by my interpreter as sometimes 

 dreadful to hear. No white men, of course, would be permitted 

 to witness these ceremonies, even were they inclined to do so. 

 The object of this operation is to enable the male to have easier 

 access ; and this may have relation to the fact that, in consequence 

 of the operation performed on the boy — I refer to slitting the 

 urethra — the penis when erected has a downward curve. A 

 number of young girls are now escaping this brutal ordeal, as 



