The Australian aboriginal

Throughout Australia it is required of a person, before he reaches adolescence, to pass through certain rites and ceremonies, without which he would not be considered mature and would not be allowed the privileges enjoyed by the rest of the adult community. This rule applies to both sexes, and is particularly stringent in the case of the male; we refer to a series of mutilations, which are committed by the elders upon the persons of the rising generation at regular stages of their lives, and always accompanied by pompous, secret, and demonstrative ceremonial. These functions naturally vary in different parts of so large an area as is included in the continent of Australia, but, nevertheless, the differences are not so considerable that one could not consider the transactions collectively under the heading of one and the same chapter.

Broadly speaking, the first, and at the same time the least important, ceremony is the piercing of the lower fleshy portion of the septum of the nose. This is performed at a rather early age in the north and south, whilst in central Australia it does not take place until the child has reached maturity. The Larrekiya pinch a hole through the flesh with their finger-nails when the child is still in arms. Central tribes use a sharply-pointed bone or the blade of a spear. The child is laid flat upon its back and its head placed between the thighs of the operator, who is kneeling on the ground. The child is assured that what is about to be done to it will not hurt, and that, when it is over, its body will develop quickly and become strong. Then the operator seizes the columna with the index finger and thumb of his left hand and pulls it well below the nostrils. With the sharpened piece of bone or blade he holds in his right hand, he perforates the tissue beneath the cartilage with a decisive drive, then quickly withdraws the instrument again. The father, or if the father be dead, the father’s brother, usually performs the operation upon a boy, whilst the mother (or mother’s sister) attends to a daughter. For some time after the operation, the perforation is kept open by means of a short rod, which is frequently turned about. Among some of the central Australian tribes, this rite is becoming obsolete; the Aluridja and Arunndta, for instance, do not nowadays insist upon the perforation being made at all, and, if it is, then only late in youth. It is at the option of a man to perforate the septum of the gin he takes to himself; if he does so, it is more for vanity sake, thinking that she is better able to decorate herself for corroborees, than with the idea of making her grow robust and womanly.

Next in the ritual sequence comes the tooth-rapping ceremony. This, too, is or was practised practically over the whole of the continent, and is in parts of great importance, ranking with certain tribes as one of the initiation steps. The ceremony extends over weeks and ends with the knocking out of one or two of the novice’s incisors. Generally a number of lads or girls undergo the ordeal together; but in the case of the girls no particularly great fuss is made. At times a number of adjoining tribes agree among themselves to hold a monster ceremony conjointly, at which all the youths of correct age are dealt with. Such is a really big occasion in tribal affairs, and many weeks are spent in an endeavour to make the event as successful and as impressive as possible. The decision is made at one of the council meetings of the old men, who, having announced the matter to a general assembly, make arrangements to send invitations to any friendly tribes living around them. In the Northern Kimberleys of Western Australia, a pair of men is selected for conveying each invitation to its destination; they are elaborately painted up and are allowed to wear only a forehead band and a pubic tassel; each carries a message-stick and a bull-roarer of a design which is to figure prominently during the ceremony. The stick and the bull-roarer are to be given to one of the old men of the tribe they are going to. When these messengers arrive at their destination, the nature of their visit is immediately recognized. The old man receives the stick and bull-roarer and hands them to one of his fellow-councillors whose crest or “kobong” corresponds to that embodied in the carvings on the bull-roarer; and, in return, the messengers are given similar pieces to take back to the sender. The date for the commencement of the ceremony is fixed about a month in advance, the half moon being favoured; the trysting place is upon the originator’s ground at a place where water and food will be sufficient to supply a great number in attendance throughout the proceedings. In the meantime the ground is cleared and prepared; as in most of their initiation ceremonies, this consists of two large, circular spaces connected by a straight, wide pathway.

While this is being done, the boys are tended by some old men, who keep them at a distance and daily talk to them on matters dealing with manhood’s duties, chivalry, courage, and the social position of women. In addition, they are taught some of the principal songs in which they will be required to join during the subsequent ceremonies in order to please the old men.

By this time it has become quite clear to the women that something extraordinary is about to happen. Indirectly they are made aware of the fact that a tooth-rapping ceremony stands near; and then for the first time music is heard; the women commence chanting periodically to the boys’ teeth, which they thereby hope to loosen in their sockets.

At this stage a bull-roarer is frequently sounded at night by one or more old men, who walk quietly away from camp and conceal themselves in the bush. At the sound of these, the women are overwhelmed with awe and cover their faces with their hands and quiver hysterically. This is the dawn of that period in a young man’s life at which his social status undergoes a complete change; it is the introduction to the series of initiation ceremonies which will ultimately qualify him for acceptance into the inner circle of men who have a voice in the control of tribal affairs. But more than this: it is also the beginning of that time in his life when he must learn to sever himself from his associations with the women and camp apart from his mother, sisters, and other near female relatives. As a matter of fact, this event places him on the threshold of a new life which unfolds to him the secret of the sexes. The sexual significance of the ceremony is clearly indicated through the circumstance that both male and female bull-roarers are sounded during the proceedings, a liberty which is only permitted on rare occasions.

About two days before the expected arrival of the invited tribes, rehearsals are held by the local men. A body of the performers suddenly appears upon the scene, coming from the cover of the forest; they are all richly decorated with red ochre and white pipe-clay, and run in a compact line up to the cleared space. As they approach the spot, they stamp the ground vigorously and hit their hands together. They halt at one of the circular spaces, and, whilst they continue to stamp and beat time with their hands, some of the oldest among them spring along the track to the opposite space and go through all sorts of mysterious acting, which include tricks of sorcery designed to exhort the men and expel any evil spirits from the ground. The act is repeated every day until the guests arrive, and then it is also produced at night. The actors, who have profited by the rehearsals, are now seen at their best, and the visitors first look on in appreciative bewilderment; at a later stage, they join in and their own sorcerers display their tricks as well. This function lasts long into the night, and, should more visitors arrive, it might be repeated all over again for the late-comers’ special benefit. During these demonstrations, the women sit some distance off with their backs turned to the men and keep up their monotonous tune.

The next few days may be spent in convivial sing-songs and food-procuring expeditions, whilst the principal performers busy themselves cutting twigs and leaves from the surrounding trees, with which they completely cover the cleared ground, so that not a track remains visible in the sand. The object of this somewhat tedious process is precautionary, namely, to deny any prowling spirit the opportunity of ascertaining the identity of the persons who have taken part in the ceremony. They fear that, if this information were obtained, the boys would be molested and their teeth stuck tightly into bone of the gums.

When at last the eventful night arrives, a number of the older men decorate their bodies profusely with vegetable down and ochre. The boys’ bodies are smeared with red ochre, over which certain designs are drawn in symmetrical fashion, and embodying a number of circles and dashes. The men endeavour to make themselves as awe-inspiring as possible by concealing as much of their normal appearance as they can. They keep aloof from the novices until immediately before the ceremony.

The fires glaring fiercely, the boys are led to the cleared space and told to keep their eyes closed. Upon a given signal, several of the decorated men rush from the darkness, pounce upon the novices, and throw them to the ground. Each man seizes one of them and kneeling behind him places the lad’s head upon his lap. The initiate offers no resistance and allows his eyes to be covered by the old man’s hands. Whilst some weird chants are being rendered, the operators appear upon the scene, each carrying a short cylindrical stick and a stone in his hands. These men are not decorated and are near relatives of the boys undergoing the ritual. With much dancing and gesticulating, they draw near to the boys, and, as each of the men kneeling behind raises the head of a candidate, one of the operators steps forward and looks into the boy’s mouth as it is being forced open by the assistant. Presently he selects his mark and with his finger-nail presses back the gum from one of the youngster’s incisors. Then he places the point of his stick against the tooth and gives it a sharp blow with the stone he is carrying in his other hand.

As a rule the boy does not whimper, but occasionally one may give way and cry with pain. This is immediately resented and forbidden by the old men, who declare that he has been too much in the company of the women and girls.

The stick is re-applied and another blow imparted to the tooth; and the process is repeated until the tooth loosens and falls out. All novices are treated similarly in rotation.

Whilst the elders are continuing their dancing, the boys are taken back to camp by their initiated male relatives, where they are presented with a pubic tassel, a dog-tail necklace, or other article which is strictly peculiar to such as have undergone the ordeal at the correct time. The boys are again given instructions in all sorts of matter becoming of a man, among which discipline and loyalty towards their elders and tribes-people in general are of first importance. The seriousness of the ceremony then relaxes somewhat, and songs and dances are produced to inspire and amuse the boys; the performance rarely concludes before daylight.

In central Australia the operation is nowadays performed without much ceremony and usually in daylight. Among the Wongapitcha it is known as “Antjuarra.” The novice lies on his back and rests his head against the operator’s thighs, while a number of men sit around in a semi-circle (Plate XXVII). The operator forces the gum away from the tooth with his finger nails and endeavours to loosen the root in its socket with a small, pointed wallaby bone he calls “marinba.” Then he applies the bevelled point of a short, stout rod (“tjutanga”) and strikes it with a stone (“puli”). The percussion produces a loud resonant note, at which all present cry “Tirr!” After four or five whacks with the stone, the tooth falls from its socket. It is picked up by the operator and shown to the audience, who respond by exclaiming “Ah” or “Yau.”

The Wongapitcha and western Aluridja remove the left central incisor; only the eastern groups of the Arunndta still practise the rite.

One of the chief concerns of an aboriginal father is to make his son fearless and capable of enduring hardship. In all his dealings with his children, he endeavours to avoid favouring and pampering any of them once they have passed out of infancy; but the boys in particular are constantly urged to suppress pain and to make it their special task to under-rate the deprivation of comfort no matter what circumstances might arise. In the same way the boys are trained to be brave; they are told not to be under any apprehension of danger except when it is known to be prompted by the treachery of the evil spirit or by the wrath of the spirit-ancestors of the tribe. With this principle ever before them, most of the initiation ceremonies have been evolved on similar lines. The Kukata even make it compulsory for the novices to walk through a blazing fire, an act they refer to as “merliadda.” Other central tribes make the young men lie temporarily upon branches they place over a smouldering fire.

It is largely during the term of initiation, from early childhood to adolescence, that every individual, boy or girl, receives a number of cuts in different parts of the body, which, when they heal, leave permanent and elevated scars. After the incision is made, ashes, ochre, and grease are usually rubbed into the wound to make it granulate to excess and so produce an artificial keloid. The reasons for making these scars are threefold: spartan, cosmetic, and tribal. The operation is performed with a stone-knife or flint-chip. In addition, a punctate scar is produced by twirling a fire-making stick until it becomes nearly red-hot, then quickly holding the point against the skin. The process is repeated time after time, each time selecting a new point on the skin, until a chain-pattern results. The latter type of scar is more commonly found on women than on men, and is much adopted by the coastal tribes of the Northern Territory.

It would be futile even to attempt a scheme of classification of the different tribal markings. In some districts, only one or two are made; in others, the better part of the body is covered. As a general rule, the men display a greater number than the women; the latter often only have one or two horizontal cuts across the chest or abdomen, at times, indeed, only a single prominent scar connecting the breasts. Generally speaking, the central Australian tribes do not cicatricize their bodies nearly as much as the northern. The Yantowannta, Ngameni, and other Cooper Creek natives leave the chest clean above the breasts, but cut a few horizontal lines immediately below them on the abdomen; the Dieri add one or two short irregular marks above; at Durham Downs the women have a number of short horizontal lines on each breast. Among the Aluridja, Arunndta, and Arrabonna, one notices principally short horizontal lines across chest and abdomen, with, occasionally, a few vertical bars, less than an inch in length, around the shoulders; a number of the small circular fire-marks are also as a rule noticeable on the forearms of the Arunndta. On the north coast a great variety of marks may be studied. The tribes east and west of Port Darwin have very prominent scars horizontally across chest and abdomen, short vertical bars around the shoulders, sloping bands composed of either parallel vertical cuts or fire-whisk scars, passing from the central point between the breasts upwards to the shoulder on one or both sides, and occasionally a vertical band, consisting of two parallel rows of fire-whisk scars, on one side of the abdomen just beside the navel. An additional pattern is a sagging band across the chest from shoulder to shoulder, consisting of about twenty short vertical cuts.

It must not be supposed that these marks are all regularly observed upon every individual one meets. On the contrary, it is very rare to see a person with all the scars referred to, some having only one or two horizontal lines across the chest or abdomen like the central tribes.

The Melville and Bathurst Islanders imitate the frond of the zamia palm (Cycas media) by cutting a series of V-shaped figures, one within the other, in a vertical row, upon one or both sides of the back, and on the upper and outer surfaces of the arms and thighs. Horizontal lines are cut across the chest, as above described, and here and there a person also has a horizontal band on his forehead, immediately over the eyes, consisting of from eight to twelve short vertical cuts.

The Cambridge Gulf natives, both male and female, cut numerous lines (“gummanda”) horizontally across the chest, abdomen, buttocks, and thighs, and long vertical lines down the upper arms, whilst on the back, occasionally, a “waist-band” or “naualla,” consisting of numerous short vertical nicks, is added, together with about ten vertical cuts on each calf (Plate XVI, 2). The gins have one or two vertical bands of punctate scars between the breasts.

The Worora at Port George IV further decorate the whole of the back with alternating groups of horizontal and vertical lines, those on the shoulder blade being particularly prominent.

The central tribes have embodied in the curriculum of initiation tests a sky-shying act, called “Algerrigiowumma” by the Arunndta, during which the novice is tossed high into the air by a number of older men. The ceremony is somewhat as follows. By agreement, a crowd of men and women assemble at night upon a cleared piece of ground near the camp-fires. After a few songs and ordinary dances, whose object seems to be more to create an atmosphere than that they have any definite significance from an initiation point of view, the whole congregation draws up in one or two lines and settles down to a peculiar dance, shuffling sideways from one edge of the cleared space to the other and back again. As they move they mumble a verse of coarse guttural words which ends in hissing notes resembling the panting of a vicious animal. At this moment two or three men spring from behind and seize the unsuspecting novice. Rushing towards the expectant crowd, they swing him high above their shoulders and throw him among the outstretched arms of the crowd. There he is seized by a dozen or more of the most powerful men, who toss him high up towards the sky. During his flight through the air the position of the boy is usually horizontal. When he returns again by gravitation, he is caught and once more projected skywards; and the same process is repeated time after time. He may then be released, but if the crowd again begin to dance and sing, he will in all probability have to submit to a repetition. The ceremony amounts to a formal handing over of the boy by the women to the care of the men.

Of momentous importance is the initiation ceremony which includes the circumcision of the novice; it is the first occasion upon which the truth of growing manhood is definitely made clear to the boy. The Aluridja refer to the ceremony as “Arrarra”; it extends over a period of several days, during which wild dances and songs are produced. For weeks before the novices are zealously guarded by certain of the old men and kept away from the mixed camp. No women are tolerated within a wide radius of the spot at which the ritual event is to be celebrated; and throughout the vigil the boys remain out of sight of their female relatives and are allowed to converse with none but their guardians. The boys’ diet is restricted to only a few very ordinary items, amounting to a mere sustenance; anything they are able to obtain by assiduous hunting is required to be handed to the men in charge. After having listened to the songs of the men officiating in the ceremony, the boys are allowed on the second or third night to attend in person. They are given to understand that what they are about to see is never to be explained to any of the women or juniors. The performance must be regarded as sacred and most secret; and they must realize that, although invisible, there are many ghost-ancestors present who are following every item of the ceremony with proud appreciation. At such a stage the performers are awe-inspiring spectacles, being richly decorated with white and red down and wearing the cross-shaped “Wanningi” in their hair (Plate XLIII, 2).

A great fire is burning at the edge of a cleared space, around which a number of men are sitting and singing and beating the ground with sticks. To the listener the strains sound respectful, if not worshipful; in the Aluridja they run somewhat like: “Imbinana alla’m binana,” repeated almost indefinitely. In the glaring light it is noticed that the ground is cleared of the original grass and growth, but is covered with a layer of leaves of the red gum tree which abounds along the watercourses. Upon this matting of leaves the dancers are moving to and fro, madly stamping the ground. Then, as they quicken their pace, each places the point of his beard into his mouth and tries to look as ferocious as possible. The lead is taken by one who is carrying a short hooked stick in front of him. In single file these men encircle the chorus, the leader touching all present with his crook and shrieking “Arr, arr, aah!”

The novice (or novices, as the case may be) is now taken away from the wild scene and again given to understand that henceforth he is not to leave the company of the men, and that he must do as those in authority bid him. He is taken to another fire some distance off and covered with red ochre from head to foot; his hair is tied back with human hair-string; then he is led back to the principal group of performers.

When he re-appears, the dancers rush around in the manner described above, crying “Arr, arr, aah!” with husky voices, first more or less confusedly, but gradually in a more defined line which gradually closes upon the youth. Beyond themselves with excitement, they lay hands upon the lad and lift him upon the backs of two or three of the men who are stooping in readiness to receive him. As he is carried onwards, the other performers, and some of the chorus as well, cluster around the panic-stricken boy, each of them taking hold of some part of his body and helping to make the mass of humanity as confused as possible (Plate XXIX, 2). Thus they tour around the cirque and pull up near to the fire. Two or three of the number now throw themselves beneath the carriers, who, in their turn, immediately pile themselves upon them. The boy is pulled back on to this human operating table full length, and another man immediately jumps on to his chest; others hold him securely by his arms and legs. All the time the men keep up their cries of “Arr!” and from different places around the fire the booming, humming, and shrieking notes of bull-roarers rise above the din.

The moment the latter unearthly sounds are heard at a Kukata ceremony, the men respond with an uproarious slogan sounding like: “Wubbi, wubbi, wubbi, wau!” This imitates the noise of the bull-roarer, which is supposed to be the voice of the presiding spirit. A perceptible wave of solemnity pervades the atmosphere at this moment, not only in the immediate surroundings of the ceremonial fire, but wherever the piercing chorus strikes the ears of camping groups, who may at the time be many miles away. Women and children shudder with fright and bury their faces in their hands. The initiated men, however, act differently. Where there is only one in camp, he rushes to the fireside and snatches a burning stick which he tosses high into the air. When there are several present, they rush out together into the darkness and unitedly echo the “Wubbi, wubbi, wubbi, wau!”

The boy’s mouth is gagged with a ball of hair-string, which serves the double purpose of stifling his voice, should he attempt to cry, and of giving him something to bite his teeth into when he is in pain.

The men at the lower end now force his legs asunder and press them downwards over the side of the bodies below. As this is happening, the operator walks into the space between the thighs, with his beard between his lips and his eyes rolling in their sockets. He carries a knife in his hand—usually a fair-sized freshly broken splinter of quartzite, chalcedony, flint, or quartz, with or without a handpiece of resin—and immediately proceeds to operate. The Wongapitcha at this stage stun the boy by clubbing his head. With his left hand the surgeon seizes the prepuse, whilst a veritable reverberation of short-sounded “i, i’s” meets him from the mouths of all present, and as he draws it well forward a number of hacks severs it (Plate XXX). The Dieri make use of a short, smooth, cylindro-conical stone, over the rounded point of which the operator stretches the skin, and so pushes back the glans before he cuts.

Among the Kukata the circumcision ceremonial is referred to as “Gibberi.” During its period, cicatrices are made on the arms, but the characteristic transverse cuts on the back are reserved for the following rite, which goes by the name of “Winyeru.” The prepuse is resected with a stone knife known as “tjulu,” and immediately destroyed by throwing it into the fire.

As the surgeon’s hand leaves the boy’s body with the detached skin clutched between two fingers, the act is greeted all round with an appreciative exclamation sounding like “A ha, a hm.” The Aluridja refer to the skin as “banki,” and bury it shortly after the operation.

The boy, who by this time is usually semi-comatous, is sat up, and the blood which is streaming from him is collected in a piece of bark previously laid beneath him. The Wogait and other northern tribes subsequently dress the wound with paperbark, clay, emu fat, and hot ashes, to stanch the bleeding. When the boy recovers from the shock, he is presented with a spear and spear-thrower, and often a shield as well.

The patient is then taken into the bush to convalesce; and during this period his diet is under strict observation. After about three weeks he has more or less recovered and returns with the men to the main camp, wearing a fur-tassel which covers his pubes. His mother and other near female relatives on the mother’s side, when they behold him, walk towards him sobbing, tearing hair from their scalps and otherwise hurting their bodies as indication of their sympathy for the painful ordeal he has so bravely undergone whilst aspiring towards the status of manhood.

Cases have repeatedly come under my notice in latter years where a circumcision candidate has attempted to evade the operation by travelling away from his tribe and residing indefinitely with some other party, native or European, having no jurisdiction over him. It is usually only a matter of time and he will be ambushed by men of his own tribe and taken back to camp. The operation is then immediately performed, and is made extraordinarily drastic as a punishment. The skin is stretched forward under considerable tension and severed with a stone knife. In several specimens which are in my possession, the external sheath was cut so high up that a number of pubic hairs were removed with it.

This ceremony in its essential features is much the same among all tribes which circumcise, although there are slight variations in the method of building up the human operating table. In the Wogait tribe, for instance, the boy is thrown on his back over the legs of four men who sit in pairs, face to face, with their limbs alternately placed so that the feet of one are against a thigh of another.

We have already referred to the ceremonial object known as the “wanningi,” which is produced during this ceremony. This is always constructed specially for the occasion and is destroyed again immediately after; under no circumstances are the women and children allowed to see it, for if they did blindness or some paralysing affliction would strike them for their disobedience. In its simplest form, the “wanningi” consists of a cross, from the centre of which a long twine of fur is wound spirally outwards, from arm to arm, and fastened with a single turn round each arm in succession. The object is either stuck into the hair as referred to, or carried in the hand by the functionaries during the final stage of the ceremony. In the northern Kimberleys a similar structure is used which is carried at the end of a spear or long stick behind the back of the performer. The “wanningi” is supposed to become inspired by a spirit guardian the moment the object is completed and prevents the boy from suffering too great a loss of blood. It is shown to the boy just prior to the operation and its sacred nature is explained to him.

The partially matriculated man now remains in camp for a while, but is kept under the strictest surveillance and aloof from the opposite sex. He continues to go out on daily excursions with certain of the older men and has to recompense those who took an active part in his initiation with the lion-share of his hunting bag, many items of which he is himself still forbidden to partake of.

Not many weeks pass by peacefully, however, before the excitement starts afresh. An old man, usually the senior among the initiate’s group-relatives, quite spontaneously lays hands on the unsuspecting neophyte, by clutching him between his arms, and bites him on the head. Then he releases him again and darts away like one possessed. Others take the cue and act similarly. Several men participate in this painful but well-intentioned ceremonial, and they may repeat the performance from three to six times in succession. The youth tries to make light of the injury done him but often cannot altogether suppress crying with agony. The blood pours freely from the numerous wounds in his scalp. He will in all probability have to undergo this painful ordeal on two or three different occasions.

There is yet another big test to be passed by the man-in-the-making before he is finally admitted by the controlling council to mature membership. And this is again accompanied by an additional mutilation of his person, which is commonly referred to as the “mika operation.” With few exceptions it is performed by most of the central and north-western tribes and in much the same manner.

The ceremony does not take place until some time after the young man has thoroughly recovered from the effects of his previous sufferings. It follows, in many instances, as the natural climax to a lengthy religious demonstration during which a series of sacred songs and dances has been produced. Needless to say the proceedings are inaugurated at a spot remote from the general camping ground, and preference is given to a moonlight night. No woman or child is tolerated near, and the novice is told that he must regard his presence among the old men as a decided favour. Ordinary songs are rendered for a while which are designed to fecundate the mother-stocks of their game supplies; then follow more dramatic incantations which are believed not only to attract certain spirit-ancestors to the spot but also inspirit the sacred but ordinarily inanimate tjuringas which are lying before the celebrants at the fireside. The excitement grows and with it the men wax enthusiastic. It is decided to operate upon one or more young men who happen to be available; and now everybody seems beyond himself with frenetical animation. The suggestion is received with applause. No secret is made about the matter; and the nomination is made in public. The atmosphere is so tense with hysterical veneration that the mere mention of a likely function enjoining the spilling of blood is received with enthusiasm and general appreciation. Arrangements are made forthwith.

Three or four men who are to be intimately concerned in the affair dodge into the darkness of the bush and return a short time later besmeared with ochre and pipeclay, and decorated with eagle-hawk’s down. As they approach the fire, they stamp the ground with their feet and balance their arms in a horizontal position. Thus they encircle the fire two or three times and, in doing so, make a peculiar hissing noise like that produced when wood is being cut. All the time the other men are beating time to the movements of the performers by smacking their hands against their buttocks.

Presently the dull, humming sound of a bullroarer breaks upon the performers’ ears. At this, all men throw up their arms above their heads and yell, while the notes of the bullroarer reach a higher pitch. A jumble of wild, vociferating men ensues. The novice stands in their midst. The bullroarer’s noise is stopped, and with it the voices of the men die away. Only the painted performers continue to stamp and again make the peculiar hissing noise as they move around the fire. By this time a number of men have placed themselves behind the novice who is made to stare into the brightest portion of the fire and told not to move his eyes from the spot.

Upon a significant nod or other signal from the leading performer, some of the men at the back of the youth lie upon the ground, while others place themselves on top of them again. The moment this has happened, the youth is tripped backwards over them by some who have been standing at his side, and by them he is also held down and gagged.

The leading performer now moves straight towards the victim and in his hand one notices he is carrying a stone cutting knife. His attendants spring to each side of him and hold the young man’s legs apart. Now the leading man, who has been ordained with the surgical duties, follows the ancient practice of the “gruesome rite” by splitting the urethra for a distance of about an inch down its length. The withdrawal of the surgeon from the scene meets with the approval of all participants and eye-witnesses; and this fact is made known by the combined exclamations of “A, A, Yah!”

The young man is promptly pulled up from the improvised living table and his gag removed. He is ordered to sit over a wooden receptacle, usually a shield but occasionally a food-carrier, in which the blood pouring from the wound is allowed to collect. In a crude but hearty manner, more by action than by word, he is congratulated. Now he is a man, a real man, and he is at liberty to join in the discussions of the rest of the men and to ask any pertinent questions relating to the affairs of his tribe.

During this time the commotion around the camp-fire continues without abatement. The excited throng, spurred on by what has preceded, seems to have become intoxicated by the sight of blood. The men who lay beneath the initiate during the operation figure prominently among them and display the clots and congealed patches of blood which cover considerable portions of their naked bodies. This provokes an appetite for seeing more and ere long one of the senior men, who has been initiated some time ago, volunteers to have the subincision of his urethra extended. He of his own free will calls upon an old man to perform on him and, when the nominee steps forward, he submits to the torture without flinching. Others follow his example. There is no doubt that the brave demonstration of masculine fearlessness stimulates the newly initiated member who is sitting aside and recovering from the shock which the trying ordeal has given his system.

The Kukata men at this stage, knowing that the candidate has now successfully passed the second great initiation rite, known as “Winyeru,” and is henceforth to be allowed to mix with the women, betray extreme sensual excitement. And it is whilst they are in that state that some of the oldest men approach them, carrying spears, with the points of which they extend the previous slit in the urethra by a further short distance. It is only natural that the blood which follows the cut is squirted in considerable quantity. The custom is to allow it to do so until the excitement abates, and then to stop the bleeding by holding a fire-stick near the wound. After submitting themselves to such treatment on numerous successive occasions, it could only be expected that the whole external length of the urethra is eventually slit. The old men maintain that thereby their carnal powers are increased, and for that reason their forefathers introduced the corresponding female operation.

The after-treatment of the patient is much the same as described in connection with the circumcision ceremony. When eventually the newly made “man” returns to the main camp, a great sensation is caused among the women who wail as if there had been a bereavement, and cut deep gashes into different parts of their bodies.

Many of the northern coastal tribes, such as the Wordaman of the Wickham and Victoria Rivers, erect a sacred pole at the site of the enactment of some of their religious and initiation ceremonies. This pole is called “Djundagalla” and stands six or seven feet high. It is painted in alternate bands of black and white, occasionally red and white, and resembles a barber’s pole more than anything. The “Djundagalla” stands in the centre of the cleared space and the rites are performed around it. In the northern Kimberleys, we find a stone phallus taking the place of the pole.

It is not every tribe that submits its young men to these mutilations at the initiation ceremonies. There are some which institute great graduation-festivals without the infliction of bodily harm to the virile aspirants. Notably among these are the Larrekiya, Melville Islanders, and the tribes living along the coast from the King River to the heads of the Roper and East Alligator Rivers.

As an illustration of a tribe which celebrates the coming of manhood without resorting to operative measures, the Larrekiya perhaps serve best. The boy, when definite signs of adolescence manifest themselves, is decorated with the kapok of the silk cotton-tree (Bombatt malabaricum) and birds’ down. A straight band passes below his eyes from ear, and the ends thereof are connected by means of a horseshoe-shaped figure traversing the cheeks and having its closed end at the chin. Another horizontal band extends from shoulder to shoulder, above the nipples, and from this two symmetrical lines are constructed down the abdomen and on to the thighs, where each terminates in a circular band around the knee. A white line is also drawn down the outer surface of each upper arm and is made to end in the plaited armlets worn above the elbow. His forehead is decorated with a broad band consisting of a number of parallel strands of opossum fur thickly besmeared with white pipeclay; in the middle of this is stuck a plume of emu or heron feathers, and fur-tassels pend from either side of it. He also wears a coiled bark belt and, over it, a human hair girdle supporting a large pubic tassel.

The initiates are made to sit in a row before the old men and are instructed to keep their eyes closed with their hands. The old men stamp the ground wildly and brandish their spears poised in the spear-throwers. Every now and then they utter harsh cries of “Arr-re! Arr-re!” and “Gora!” Whilst this pandemonium is in full swing, the boys are ordered to open their eyes and behold their elders performing; then they are led away into the bush and have to wait on the men, having especially to collect for them many things that are good to eat. During this period they are often cowed by being struck between the shoulder-blades, and threatened with violence if at any time they talk publicly about anything that has transpired or in any way betray the trust which the old men have placed in them. Upon their return to camp, the young men have additional scars cut into the skin of their chest and are then entitled “Böllier” which signifies that the first stepping stone to maturity has been passed.

A second ceremony takes place some years later. Each youth is then under the individual charge of an old man and is decorated much the same way as the Böllier candidate described above, with the distinguishing features of four red ochre stripes across the white forehead band and an extra plume of white cockatoo feathers stuck into his hair. The proceedings start soon after sundown and last till about midnight; they include much gesticulation and vociferation. At the solemn moment when the “conferring” of the maturity-degree takes place, the youth, still tended by the old man, remains motionless, with downcast eyes, and listens to the melancholy chant rendered by the old men in low lagging accents:

“Makolär manga, malolär, ä, är, maklär, immanga.”

No beating of sticks or clapping of hands accompanies this tune, and no further ceremonial dance follows.

The youth has now been elevated to the status of “Mollinya” which qualifies him to the full rank and privileges of manhood. Further cicatrices may now be added to either side of his abdomen. The cuts are horizontal but do not extend right up to the median line.

During the period intervening between Böllier and Mollinya festivals, bustard, flying-fox, and yam are forbidden articles of diet, but after the latter event the fledgelings are invited to eat with the old men. They honestly believe that if any of the young men, while undergoing initiation, ate one of the forbidden articles secretly, the medicine man would be able to detect the food in his stomach; and having thus disobeyed, the medicine man would be justified in running a spear through the offender, or at any rate compel him to swallow certain things which would poison him. These rules are strictly observed, and, whenever some of the privileged members have eaten flying-fox or bustard, they take the precaution to collect the bones and burn them.

The tribes on Nullarbor Plains will tell you that the initiation ceremonies originated in the following way. Many, many years ago, the emu and the kangaroo were more or less human in appearance and possessed of mighty powers. One day the emu caught the kangaroo with the object of making a man of it. But the great struthious bird had no hands wherewith it might have performed an operation; all it possessed was a “finger” on each side of its body. It might be explained that the emu, because it cannot fly, is not regarded as a “bird” in the generally recognized sense, and consequently the wings are looked upon as “fingers.” In most of the vocabularies, indeed, no distinction is made between “finger” and “hand,” the south-western tribes of central Australia referring to one or the other as “marra.” Nothing daunted, however, the emu removed the præputium from the kangaroo by clutching it between its wings and pulling it off. Thereupon the emu said to the kangaroo: “Will you make me a man?” And the kangaroo replied, “Yes.” The kangaroo had the advantage over the emu because it possessed five “fingers,” with which it could perform the operation the right way. The animal caught hold of the bird and circumcised it with a sharp splinter of flint. But the emu requested to be further operated upon and so it came about that the kangaroo decided upon a subincision. To the present day the emu retains the marks of this operation. Some while after these happenings, the tribal fathers ran across the sacred emu and noted the change in its anatomy; they forthwith mutilated each other in a similar way, and only then did they realize that they were men.

Not boys alone are required to submit to the various initiation ceremonies here mentioned, but in most tribes young women are “made” marriageable by having to submit themselves to ordeals which are quite similar to those of manhood’s approbation.

While discussing the female breast, we noted that when it begins to develop a girl is taken away by the men and the breast anointed and sung to, to stimulate its growth. This procedure is the forerunner of initiation. The girl’s development is forthwith watched with care, and when the unmistakable signs of ripening are detected the event is celebrated with dance and song.

Men and women attend, and the items rendered are more or less of the nature of an ordinary corrobboree, although occasionally some special feature characterizes the performance. For instance the Larrekiya and Wogait tribes pass the girl through a “smoking” ceremony after the following fashion. An old gin places herself behind the girl and lays her hands upon the latter’s shoulders. Then all the other women taking part form a continuous chain by standing in a single row behind each other and “linking up” in a similar way. They begin to sing “Ya, Ya, Ya,” in a long-drawn melancholy note, and the old-gin immediately stamps her feet, and, moving forwards, pushes the girl along in front of her. All the other performers follow her, stamping in unison and holding on to the shoulders of the person in front. Quite unexpectedly the monosyllabic “Ya” is changed to “Yen da min,” and at this the old gin stops short and strikes the girl’s back thrice with her hand. The same performance is repeated time after time during the night. Early in the morning of the next day, the girl is led to the sea, and the whole party wades out to about hips’ depth. Here a grotesque dance is started during which they strike their arms, bent in the elbows, against the sides of their bodies under water, the splash producing a peculiar hollow-sounding note. The process reminds one of a goose flapping its wings while enjoying a bath. At this stage, the wording of the song sounds like “A-lö-lö-lö,” and when its final syllable has resounded, all bathers duck under the surface of the water.

Next a fire is kindled upon the shore, and, when a good blaze has been obtained, a heap of grass and leaves previously steeped in water, is piled upon it. Upon this the old gin seats herself and makes the girl sit upon her lap facing her and with her legs astride. The volumes of smoke which are generated completely hide the two from view. The idea is to allow the smoke to thoroughly play upon the parts of the novice, the process being facilitated by the manipulation of the old gin. When the ceremony is concluded, the girl is led into the bush by the old women and for some time to follow she is not allowed to partake of certain articles of diet, such as for instance snake, dugong, and goanna.

Several of the northern and north-eastern coastal tribes mutilate the hand of a young gin during the period of her initiation by removing two joints from a finger. The forefinger of either hand is generally chosen by the former tribes, the latter favouring the small finger. The Ginmu at the mouth of the Victoria River make the amputation with a stone knife. In this district a singular case came under my notice which is of considerable interest from an evolutional point of view since it suggests a phenomenon usually only met with in crustations, reptiles, and other creatures whose position is very much lower in the animal kingdom. A young girl had had two end phalanges of a finger imperfectly removed, and yet upon the mutilated stump a horny growth resembling a diminutive finger-nail had formed anew. The Daly River tribes remove the bones by tying a ligature of cobweb which they find in the mangroves very tightly around the joint. The end phalanges of the finger, thus deprived of the circulation, gradually mortify and drop off. Occasionally the joints may be bitten off by a parent of the child.

As a general rule, it may be said that wherever mutilations of the male are undertaken during initiation ceremonies, a corresponding operation is performed upon the female; and, vice versa, where the former practice is not indulged in, the latter is also unknown. Generally speaking, too, the female mutilation ceremonies are much the same wherever practised in Australia, but the implements or devices employed for the actual mutilation vary in different localities.

Invitations to the event are sent by special messengers to adjoining groups and neighbouring friendly tribes. These messengers are of mixed sexes and are decorated by having their bodies covered with ochre. The common method is to make the ground colour of the body a rich red and to draw upon it concentric circles of white and black. The men carry a “female” tjuringa, whilst the women, apart from numerous necklaces and armlets which they wear, are unaccoutred. The latter are near group-relatives of the young woman concerned. Their mission is readily understood by the people they look up during their walk-about, and, without much interchange of words, acceptance is indicated by the recipients of the message by resorting to an intimacy with the feminine emissaries. Although considerable liberality is shown during this indulgence, the privilege is by no means stretched to beyond the bounds of a tolerable promiscuousness, even though the messengers may be entertained at the distant camp for two or three days before they return home.

The celebrating camp in the interim has been busily preparing for the approaching event. Nightly corrobborees have been held at the chosen spot by both the men and the women, and the novice has repeatedly appeared before the performing crowd richly decorated and besmeared with emu-fat and ochre. At no time, however, even after the invited guests have arrived, does the excitement become anywhere near as great as during the initiation ceremonies of the opposite sex; in fact, at its best, the performance is extremely dull and monotonous.

When at length it becomes apparent that even the principal actors themselves are tiring, it seems as though the moment had arrived when only a desperate decision could revive the enthusiasm. A number of men, who stand in the same group-relationship to the novice as her future husband, lead the girl away without any ado, except perhaps that the remaining members slightly spur their acting. This stage is mostly reached at daylight, as often as not early in the morning, after the whole night has been spent in dancing and singing.

Away from the din of her tribespeople’s celebration in honour of the occasion of her stepping from girlhood to womanhood, the silent victim is told to squat on the ground whilst the men surround her. Her oldest “group-husband” produces a flat, wooden tjuringa, of the “male” type, with which he several times touches her person, whilst he mutters incoherent and garbled words. This is done to dispel from her all possible pain and likely loss of blood during the operation she is about to be submitted to.

Then she is requested to lie flat on her back, and her head is placed upon the lap of one of the men who squats to keep it there. It follows the act which is destined to make her marriageable; her virginity is doomed to mechanical destruction.

The instruments, if any, which are used for the operation vary according to locality. In the central areas (Aluridja, Wongapitcha, Kukata), an ordinary stone-knife with resin haft is used. The Victoria desert tribes employ cylindro-conical stones from six to eight inches long, and from one and a half to two inches in diameter. Among the tribes of the northern Kimberley districts of Western Australia no real instrument is used at all, but the operator winds the index and middle fingers of his right hand together with a long piece of fur-string; and this device answers the same purpose as the above-named instruments.

The tribes indulging in this practice admit that their action is prompted by a desire to offer the girl’s pudicity to one of her spirit-husbands. We might indeed look upon this rite as the equivalent of sacrificing the jus primae noctis to a mythical or legendary tribal relative who is supposed to be living in the astral form and who is likely to come back to earth at any day.