HORN EXPEDITION—ANTHROPOLOGY. 
23 
Congenital Deformities. 
No example of any of these conditions was met witli amongst the nativ^es 
with the exception of an occasional but very infrequent squint. 
Perforation of the Nasal Septum. 
In the tribes met with, almost all the natives of both sexes from eaidy 
adolescence onwards had the septum of the nose perforated. As a rule the hole 
was left unoccupied though occasionally a “nose-stick” was worn, which most 
frequently took the form either of a piece of the entire shaft of a long slender 
bone—usually I believe of the wing of the Eaglehawk (yAqidla audax —in one 
end of which was often inserted the white tip of the tail of the common rabbit- 
bandicoot {Feragale lagotis). In other cases it was the half of such a bone longi¬ 
tudinally split with the ends rounded off, and with the surfaces either plain or 
marked, or sometimes it was a plain or marked fusiform piece of wood. 
The operation, I am informed by Mr. Gillen, is performed in youth without 
any attendant ceremony, the instrument used being a pointed bone. 
Knocking Out of Teeth.* 
The practice of knocking out one or two of the upper central incisors prevails 
to a greater or less extent amongst many, if not all, of the tribes of Central 
Australia as well as in many other parts of the country, but it does not appear to 
be invariably carried out, at least at the present time. It seems in fact to be one 
of those customs which are going out of fashion here as elsewhere. 
Many, perhaps the majority, of both the Arunta and Luritcha tribe had been 
thus deprived of one, usually I think the left, upper incisor, but some were 
certainly not so disfigured. Amongst the Aruntas Mr. Gillen informs me that the 
custom is only practiced by certain groups. North of the McDonnell Ranges a 
similar practice exists amongst the Kaitish tribe and, amongst the Warramungas, 
I have it on the authority of Mr. McKay, chief telegraph operator at Tennant’s 
Creek that, though the custom exists there also, it is not general and is confined 
to certain familie.s, the tooth removed being the left upper incisor. Still further 
north I noticed that, amongst the Daly Waters blacks, two teeth were missing. 
* A technical term is wanted for this common Australian practice, but I hesitate to propose that the 
language of .anthropology should be further burdened by the somewhat cumbrous expression “ odonteeeopsis ” 
which, nevertheless, is accurately descriptive of the performance. 
