1900.] MATHEWS—SOUTH AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES, 623 
ready for the ceremony. One of the lads to be operated upon 
whose body is painted with red ochre and grease, with down feathers 
in his hair, is sent with each messenger. The age at which the 
boys are circumcised varies from about eight to twelve years, 
depending upon the growth and development of the subject and 
other circumstances. 
People occupying country a hundred or a hundred and fifty miles 
distant respond to an invitation of this kind, and assemble at a 
general camping ground which has been fixed upon by the initiator 
of the proceedings. The men of each tribe approach the main 
camp painted and in a meandering line, stamping their feet, and 
are accorded a formal reception by the local mob, after which they 
establish their quarters on the side nearest their own country. The 
boy who accompanied the messenger is borne into the general en- 
campment on the shoulders of one of the men, and the old chiefs 
shout out the names of well-known localities in the district they 
have come from. ‘They also mention flowering trees such as the 
wattle, remarkable mountains and shady trees. 
In a secluded place, a short distance from the main camp, a 
space about twenty-five or thirty yards in diameter is cleared of all 
grass and loose rubbish and partially surrounded by a fence of 
boughs, where the circumcision of the novices will be carried out’ 
later on. These gatherings are generally arranged to take place 
shortly after the new moon makes its appearance, so that there will 
be moonlight during some part of every night for two or three 
weeks; and where circumstances permit the summer time is chosen 
—the season of the year in which game and vegetable products are 
the most abundant being preferred. 
Festive and preliminary ceremonials are carried on for some days 
after the last mob has arrived, which I need not now occupy the 
space to detail. While these performances are in progress the head- 
men assemble at their private meeting place near the camp, and 
determine the date on which the novices will be circumcised. As 
the men of one tribe circumcise the youths belonging to another, as 
soon as the date is announced the men of the several mobs present 
pretend to quarrel with each other, on account of their boys being 
compelled to submit to the rite. During the night considerable 
sexual intercourse is indulged in, but this privilege is accorded only 
to those persons who would be entitled to marry each other in con- 
1 Proc. Roy. Soc. Victoria, NV. S., Vol. x, pp. 4 and 32. 
