174 
HORN EXPEDITION—ANTHROPOLOGY. 
eyebrows and cheeks are decorated with down, and pieces of the same material are 
scattered through the hair (Plate XVII., Fig. 25). The other natives are merely 
painted with red and yellow ochre. As soon as the operation is performed, the 
pole is taken down, stripped and the unwound hair-girdles are restored to their 
respective owners; but, before this is done, the young man, who has now become 
an erhva kurka^ is congratulated and fondled by the men. He cannot, however, 
frequent the main camp until his wounds are healed, so he retires once more to 
the bush (Plate XIX., Fig. 28). In a few weeks his healing has taken place— 
indeed this second wound generally heals more quickly than the first—the fact 
is notified to the warriors that their young brother is ready for admission to their 
order. The men assemble at some little distance from the general camp and in 
the direction towards which the newly made ertiva kurka is located and sing with 
great gusto, the chief leading the qiiaapara :— 
“ Chuk-ur-rokerai yaa li chaakaa-a 
Yama kank waa-a 
Inkwiirkna inkwurkna atnai 
Inkwurkna inkwurkna atnai.” 
T1 le lubras, hearing this chant, assemble in the main camp and begin dancing to 
the time kept by the men, but they do not sing themselves. After a certain 
amount of preliminary chanting the guardian of the young warrior brings in his 
charge and presents him, as a man and a warrior, to the assembled males, who, 
with shouts of rejoicing, escort him to the main camp, where he is presented to 
the lubras waiting at a cleared place close to the camp. The young man runs 
round them quickly in a circle, while the women make a noise resembling that of 
the “ humming-sticks ” {iruld). He then suddenly bounds away into the bush, 
whither he is followed by a number of men who camp with him for the night. 
Next morning he is again escorted to the camp, and now carries a shield 
{tilkwiirta), which he displays in an attitude of defence. As he approaches the 
canq) all the young women of the same class (phratry) as himself throw pieces of 
green gum (Eucalyptus) bark at him, which he wards of with his shield. When 
the supply of bark is exhausted he turns his back upon them for a minute or 
two and then runs back to the men, who have remained at a little distance in the 
rear chanting vigorously. 
He is now a fully-fledged man, entitled to wear his hair tied up behind ; the 
pubes is decorated with a diminutive, fan-shaped tassel made of fur, dyed white, 
and human hair ; a hair girdle is henceforth worn round the waist and, if he be a 
dandy, fur armlets adorn his biceps (Plate XVIII., Fig. 27). In all corrobborees 
