Cylindrico-Conical and Cornute Stones. 141 



over, the old man who did the cutting put the karamoola yudika 

 under his arm and went away. He was supposed to lose it without 

 knowing where it was dropped. I imagine that his arm tired, and he 

 dropped it without particularly noticing where. If afterwards it was 

 found, the finder covered it up and the place where it lay was care- 

 fully noted, so that when wanted again, it could be recovered. These 

 stones were supposed never to be made by man. 



" Later it was found that the operation could be performed with- 

 out the use of the stone, so a small cylinder was employed. This 

 was just held in front of the penis and in prolongation of it. Directly 

 the foreskin was off the stone was dropped on the sand. This sub- 

 stitute was then lost in the same manner as the original. My in- 

 formant was at great pains to convince me that the aborigines did 

 not make them. The- Moora made them, in the same way as he 

 made fossil wood into stone. This old fellow," concludes Mr. Alston, 

 " nearly fainted when I showed him the karamoola yudika. He was 

 horror-struck for the minute, and then told me the above." 



At present even the short substitute stone is not used, but a 

 piece of wood, conical in shape, and made like a spear point, is em- 

 ployed. 



After the ceremony this is shown to the boy and its significance 

 is explained. 



One of the men from Cowarie on the Diamantina had left behind 

 him, at a deserted camp, a box obtained from the homestead con- 

 taining three coorie toorooka^ or the mussel shells given to the 

 initiate, a store of munyeroo seed, and, wrapt up in a bit of rag, a 

 conical spear point stick. It was plastered thick with red ochre 

 and fat, and it smelt. Evidently these were prepared for the cere- 

 mony which is to take place, when the Government bonus for wild 

 dog pups is finished, and the tribe can gather again. 



This report has some weak points. The cylindrico-conical stones 

 are found most commonly in the valley of the Darling, and its tribu- 

 taries. 



Here, however, circumcision is unknown, and records of the 

 uses above related are only to be found amongst those who still 

 practise the rite. 



There are, to account for this, stories of changes of place amongst 

 various tribes. Thus the Wonkonguru say that they formerly lived 

 north of the Diamantina, but were driven south by the Ngameni. 

 They in their turn displaced the Dieri who now live south of Cooper's 

 Creek. 



Something similar may have been the lot of the Itchumundi, 

 Karamundi and Barkinji, who pushed eastward from the Grey and' 

 the Barrier Ranges. On the other side of these mountains circum- 

 cision is still practised. 



Both in weapons and in language there is a remarkable resem- 

 blance between those dwelling to the east and those to the west of 

 these mountain ranges. 



