118 T. P, ANDERSON STUART. 
As to the aim of the operation it is impossible to come to 
a definite conclusion. Dr. J. C. Cox,! says the object of the 
operation is “difficult to surmise.” Some writers merely refer to 
it as an “operation,” e.g., the “terrible operation” of Sturt, thus 
involving no theory ; others again regard it as a rite or ceremony 
merely, e.g. the “incredible ceremonial” of Lubbock, the ‘ most 
extraordinary ceremonial” of Eyre (Joc. cit.), the “terrible rite” 
of Curr.’ 
C. W. Schiirmann,* a missionary, who appears to be the second 
observer to record this custom, writing of the aboriginal tribes 
of Port Lincoln in South Australia, says, “the object of this 
strange mutilation I have not been able to ascertain. In 
support of a practice so essentially barbarous the natives have 
nothing to say more than that ‘it was observed by their fore- 
fathers, and must therefore be upheld by themselves,’” here 
apparently it is now, at all events a pure rite or ceremony. 
Froggatt,* says ‘the only reason I could learn for this curious 
mutilation is a statement of an old man, that until it was done 
“they were all the same dog (or other animal),” meaning I suppose 
that they were not really men till they had been operated upon, 
they were no better than dogs or other lower animals. Howitt, 
(loc. cit.) speaking of the important Dieyerie tribe in Central 
Australia, says that this tribe names anyone the subject of this 
operation “ Kulpi,” and that “it is only when a young man has 
been made kulpi that he is considered to be a “thorough man,” 
and in this sense kulpi is the highest stage of the initiation cere- 
monies. A kulpi has the privilege, and he alone, of appearing 
before the women in a perfectly nude state. It is to the kulpis 
that important matters bearing on the welfare of the tribe are 
entrusted, and they always take precedence of the other men who 
” are not kulpi. They hold in fact the most important positions, 
: eee Oe 
1 Proc. Linn. Soc. N. 5. Wales, 1881, p. 663. 
2 The Australian Race, 1886, 1., p. 72. 
3 Aboriginal Tribes of Port Lincoln in South Australia, Adelaide, 1846. 
4 Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, 1883, p. 652. 
