HORN EXPEDITION—ANTHROPOLOGY. 
31 
Nevertheless, whatever may have been the real origin of tlie practice, the argument 
is still open, that this mutilation in common with the others once possessed the 
charm of novelty, and that when at length the novelty of the day grew into an 
estal)lished custom—the fashion in fact—no self-respecting blackfellow dare depart 
from it without loss of status or dignity. It is also to he noticed, as the writer 
just referred to has indicated, that all these mutilations, the scarring of the body, 
the nasal peroforation and the knocking out of teeth have this in common that 
they are all instituted about the time of adolescence, a period at which the desire 
for personal adornment is everywhere great and at which also the sexual idea 
comes into prominence; moreover, as we have added, they are, in these tribes at 
least, voluntarily undergone. 
There is no doubt, as Westermarck says, that the time of puberty or a 
period very shortly before it, is that selected for all such mutilations, but still it 
would not be difficult to quote instances in which the piercing of the septum and 
the knocking out of the teeth were done at a considerably earlier age. 
The natives themselves when questioned, if they assign any reason at all, can 
give no other answer than either that the removal of the teeth as well as the 
other operations, are for the purpose of improving the appearance, or that it is 
done in obedience to long established custom which was made imperative upon 
them by the commands of a superior being. 
We must not lose sight of the fact that the operation of knocking out the 
teeth may have once had a greater significance than it has at present for, in certain 
of the Australian tribes, its pei’formance constitutes a distinct ceremonial to which 
considerable importance is attached, being, in fact, one of tliose which attend the 
initiation of the youth into manhood, and is either supplementary or in substitution 
of other initiatory rites, but if ever it bore such significance amongst the tribes 
with which I am dealing this has been entirely lost and, indeed, as already stated, 
the practice itself seems to be dying out amongst them. 
The customs in Central Australia certainly bear out the statement that, while 
it is the rule amongst civilised races for the women to be most prone to ornament 
themselves, among savage peoples it is the men whose vanity manifests itself most 
conspicuously in this direction. As has been stated the former are, in Central 
Australia and I think generally throughout the country, less elaborately and less 
constantly scarred, they less frequently have their teeth knocked out or the nasal 
septum perforated, or if that has been done they less frequently wear a nose 
ornament. With the exception of a simple head-band, or one or more plain head- 
