24 
HORN EXPEDITION—ANTHROPOLOGY. 
and again in the south amongst the tribes around Lake Eyre two also are removed. 
In fact, I think it is safe to say tliat the practice exists throughout all the tribes 
of Central Australia from Oodnadatta to Daly Waters. 
The operation is done during youth by placing againt the tooth to be removed 
a stick, to which a smart blow is given with another stick or stone, men and 
women dealing with their own sexes respectively. Amongst the Arunta and 
Luritcha tribes the performance is, like the perfoi’ation of the septum, unattended 
by any ceremony. 
Body Scars. 
The name tattoo-marks, which is frequently used in this connection, is 
unfortunate and should be abandoned, as the scars in question, with which the 
bodies of Australian natives are so generally decorated, differ entirely from the 
coloured patterns produced by the permanent staining of the tissues with pigments 
to which the term tatto-marks ought to be limited. 
In Central Australia nearly all the natives of both sexes bear these body 
scars, though not so extensively as at Port Darwin and in some other parts of 
the continent. 
The wounds, of which the scars are the result, are amongst the Aruntas and 
Luritchas, inflicted without any special ceremony a little before, or about, the time 
of puberty without any compulsion and entirely at the desire of the individuals 
themselves. Males operate on males and conversely. I was told that when the 
scarring is extensive all the marks are not made at the same time but by 
instalments, the first wounds being allowed to heal before others are made. 
The scars in question consist of raised cicatrical ridges sometimes narrow and 
inconspicuous, but more usually prominently elevated above the surrounding skin 
to the extent of half an inch or more and of a width of an inch or so. They take 
the form of long or short straight bars, arcs or small circular marks. 
We were told by the natives and by others that different tribes were 
distinguished by different patterns, but though individuals of the same sex varied 
somewhat amongst themselves in this respect, I could not satisfy myself that 
any divergence of pattern distinguished the members of the two tribes with which 
we came in contact. In fact a general plan seemed common to both. 
There did, however, appear to be a certain amount of difference between the 
patterns of the two sexes, the men being, moreover, in nearly all cases the more 
extensively marked. 
