340 
RENDITCH.” 
the tribes of the Murray and its neighbourhood 
with great circumstantial variety. Some are tattooed 
all over the back or breast in rows, some only one 
half of each or of one, some are only dotted, others 
have rings or semicircles round the upper part of 
the arms and some are tattooed on the belly, &c. 
Many tribes I have met with in different parts of 
Australia, have no tattooing at all, others are 
marked on the breast by singular looking scars, 
occupying a space of six or eight inches each way 
upon the chest, these are called “ renditch” in the 
Murray dialect, and are made by fire ;* but I have 
never been able to obtain any satisfactory informa- 
tion respecting them. These scars are confined to 
particular tribes whom I have only met with occa- 
sionally, and for a period which did not allow me 
the opportunity of making much inquiry into their 
origin. 
At Encounter Bay, instead of plucking out the 
hair of the pubes, the incipient beard is pulled out 
by the roots, and the youth, as at the Murray, is 
smeared from head to foot with red ochre and 
grease. 
Among the females the only ceremony of im- 
portance that I am aware of is that of tattooing the 
back, a long and very painful operation.* The 
* Hoc plerumque menstruis jam primum venientibus factum 
est: ssepe autem puellis propter timorem statum suam celantibus, 
aut aliqua alia ex causa, opus quod tempore menstruali fieri 
prorsus necessarium est, in proxima differtur. 
