HORN EXPEDITION-ANTHROPOLOGY. 
27 
which sometimes has to be enlarged.* I have evidence that this is also the case 
elsewhere in the Northern Territory, but wliether the incompleteness of the 
incision is by accident or design I am not sure. Both operations are performed 
on the advent of puberty, and their performance is the outward and visible sign 
of manhood. 
Circumcision is always the first to be performed, the other operation following 
after a variable interval; sometimes, and perhaps usually, as soon as the circum¬ 
cision wound has healed, but also often, according to several very reliable 
informants, not until some considerable time, it may be months, has elapsed. 
Never, I believe, does any boy escape the ordeals altogether, and if by chance he 
should, through protection by the whites or for some other reason, elude the first 
attempt at capture he is eventually secured and forced to submit to them. 
Speaking of subincision it is to be noted that the incision itself, being, 
by its position, out of sight, singularly little indication of the mutilation is afforded 
to the eye by the appearance of the parts. Though practically naked nothing 
unusual in the organ, in the absence of special examination, is observable except 
a shortening due, no doubt, to cicati’icial contraction of the rudely made wound. 
In spite of the difficulty of performance without the aid of an instrument 
that the surgeon would consider necessary as a guide, T must admit that 
in all the cases which I examined the operation was very thoroughly done. No 
special treatment for either wound is adopted beyond the usual application of 
ashes, earth or grease. I was curious to learn whether, under the circumstances, 
a squatting position in micturition would be afterwards adopted but this was 
not so. 
For a graphic description of the ceremonies which accompany the performance 
of these operations amongst the Arunta Ilpma section, I must refer the reader to 
Mr. Gillen’s paper, this gentlemen having witnessed them on several occasions. 
On the Horn Expedition we were never fortunate enough to meet with a similar 
opportunity. It was not so much on account of objections to our presence as 
from the fact that appropriate subjects were not available, and the proposal that 
one of our Afghan camel drovers who was unpopular, should be the corpus vile did 
not meet with his approval. The nearest approach to the real performance was a 
dress, or rather undress, rehearsal of it by the blacks at Tempe Downs, which they 
*“ Customs, Rites and Superstitions of the Aboriginal Tribes of the Gulf of Carpentaria.” 
Trans. Roy. Soc. of South Australia, vol. xvii. 
W. G. Stretton, 
OA 
