234 



also are a fair percentage of young men, so that it will probably, 

 in a few years, become a thing of the past. With regard to the 

 operation performed on the young men, I have been very par- 

 ticular in obtaining ail possible information as to the reason of 

 the male rite, and am convinced that it is done purely for the 

 sake of cleanliness and not, as I have frequently heard, to prevent 

 procreation. To convince me that I was wrong, a friend of mine 

 ill this district said, " Now we will go into the natives' camp, 

 when I will satisfy you." On arrival there, he selected an 

 intelligent young native, and said to him, " By-and-bye you cut 

 him Dyimboo (penis), you no more make him Leeardooberrie " 

 (children). The reply was, " Yah (yes) ; no more make him." 

 I objected to the manner of putting the question, and, in my 

 turn, said to the native, " SupjDOse you cut him Dyimboo ; you 

 no more get him sore fellow ?" The reply was, "Yah ; no more 

 get him sore fellow." So that one has to be careful, and not 

 rely too much on leading questions. My interpreter knows 

 thoroughly well now what my object is in putting all these 

 questions ; but even with him I never lead directly up to a 

 subject. 



16. The pretence of killing, and then of restoring life, is not 

 practised with these tribes; although if a young person dies, they 

 all get round the body and try to keep it warm. 



17. After the initiatory rites, the boys are allotted wives, but 

 they do not have sexual intercourse with them until one moon, 

 or month, after the ceremony. 



18. Some of the tribes knock out the front teeth in the upper 

 jaw, and all of them pierce the cartilage of the nose ; these mutil- 

 ations are performed without any ceremony. During corroborees 

 a stick is inserted through the nose, simply as an ornament. 



19. After the young man has quite recovered from the opera- 

 tion performed at puberty, he is marked and scored with a piece 

 of flint across the chest ; this is generally done by the young 

 Avife, and he in turn marks her in the same way. Sometimes the 

 wounds are made on their own persons, and it is wonderful the 

 amount of misery and pain they will bear in order to be in the 

 fashion ; perhaps they are not peculiar in this respect ; however, 

 they consider it more manly to have these marks, and it would 

 be impossible to find an aboriginal without them. Young couples 

 will pass the greater part of their time in adorning each other. 

 He makes necklets for her, and she makes armlets for him. 



20. Any person is competent to put on these marks. You 

 may sometimes see a broad-arrow on a blackfellow, put on by a 

 white man, with, of course, the consent of the native. I have 

 seen the resulting cicatrices standing out quite an inch from the 

 ordinary surface of the flesh. 



