262 R. H. MATHEWS. 



kangaroos is encountered, then our hunting party, instead 

 of numbering ten men, really consists of only seven. If 

 iguanas are met with, the hunters comprise but eight men. 

 And if they come to a fertile patch of ground, only six 

 yam-diggers are available. 



It is manifest that this arrangement conduces to preserve 

 the supply of food by diminishing the number of those in 

 quest of it. It should perhaps be stated that in some 

 instances a man can eat his totem if killed and given by 

 another person, but as the chief difficulty consists in the 

 capture and gathering of the food, the tendency is still 

 towards its preservation. 



I have also observed that animals and plants which are 

 prolific or numerous are the totems of a greater number of 

 men than those which are more or less scarce. For example 

 wallaby, duck and yam men are more numerous than por- 

 cupine and pelican men. Again, game and other things 

 which are scarce are tabooed to the young people, who 

 must hunt among the animals which are plentiful, in order 

 to give the old folk a chance. 



MUMBIRBIRRI OR SCARRING THE BODY. 



Raising cicatrices by means of cutting into the flesh on 

 the shoulders, arms, and chest is a custom of wide pre- 

 valence among the Australian aborigines. The position 

 and extent of the scarring is regulated by the custom of 

 the tribe to which the novice belongs. When visiting the 

 natives on the Upper Lachlan, I obtained the following 

 particulars of the practice in that part of the country. My 

 informants were old men who had been operated on in their 

 youth, who showed me their scars, and had a very vivid 

 recollection of the formalities connected with the ordeal. 

 These people speak the Wirraidyuri language, a grammar 

 and vocabulary of which I contributed to the Anthropo- 



