172 
HORN EXPEDITION—ANTHROPOLOGY. 
on one knee holds the shield over his head. Two men then seize the nlpinerka, 
who generally goes quietly, and place him in the hollow of the shield, where he is 
held hy two others. The operating “ medicine-man,” railtchaiva, seizes the penis, 
saying, “ Etrirra itchela warai wula niii ipjoira twa-el amunga ”—(“ Don’t be 
frightened ; you will be a man directly ”). The glans penis is then pushed back 
with the finger, the foreskin is pulled forwards and stretched as tightly as possible, 
and then quickly hacked off with a small stone knife (see explanation to Plate 
XVII.). While the operation is being performed the warriors who surround the 
subject sing in fierce tones, the beards being pushed between the teeth 
Irri yulta yulta rai 
Ul katchera ul katch ar-rai 
Irri yulta yulta rai 
Ul katchera iil katch ai.* 
The patient rarely displays any emotion under the knife. In the many instances 
I have witnessed I have never heard a boy cry out; the most I could detect was 
a slight shudder at the contact of the knife. The subject, having undergone this 
operation of circumcision {larina), is no longer an ulpmerka, but becomes known 
as an arrakurta. 
After the operation he sits in a dazed state for a few minutes while he 
receives the congratulations of the warriors, and is then taken to the bush by 
some relation or friend told off for the purpose, where he must remain in retire¬ 
ment until the wound heals. He is furnished with a bundle of large irida (not 
used for making a humming noise), which he carries with him and which are 
bestowed in order to pi-omote speedy recovery. These sticks belong to the class 
of objects known as Chiirina, which will be dealt with in a separate section. He 
must not on any account be seen by a woman of the tribe during his convalescence, 
and the women are careful to avoid the quarter in which the arrakurta is supposed 
to be located. The wound generally takes from six to eight weeks to heal. 
Before the arrakurta can be admitted to the full privileges of manhood he 
must further undergo the operation of “ Arritta,” or subincision, one of the most 
painful and brutal practices I have ever witnessed. 
* In an account, by an eye-witness, of a circumcision ceremony at Claraville, on the Eastern McDonnells 
(about sixty miles from Alice Siuings), which differs from the preceding in the preliminary details, it is related that 
the prepuce, after removal, is handed round to the young men, who, in turn, pinch up between the finger and 
thumb, a piece, which is cut off by the operator and eaten by them. The blood which flows from the wound is 
made to drip into the hollow of the haft of a shield, and, after the ceremony, this is jiassed round amongst the lubras, 
who dip their finger into the blood and anoint the pudenda until the supply is exhausted.—(E.C.S.). 
