Page:History of New South Wales from the records, Volume 1.djvu/396

 284 THE NATIVES 1788 which — ^as it must be performed with the shell that serves them, 15 Ma3 when fixed at the end of a short stick, as a chisel for pointing their spears and for separating the oysters from the rocks — ^must be a painful one. It is only on the little finger of the left hand that it is performed. It cannot be any part of the marriage ceremony, for I have seen several women with child whose fingers were per- fect, and, as I before observed, a female child of five or six years of age that had suffered the operation. I likewise saw some very young female children whose fingers were perfect.* The loins of many of the women appeared as if they had some- thing of a scrofulous disorder, but which I thought might be the marks still remaining of a chastisement. They certainly are not Treatment treated with any very great tenderness, and I believe are mostly women. employed in the canoes, where I have seen them with very young infants at the breasts. They appear very obedient to the men, and as they are the weakest, so in this state of nature they appear to be treated as the inferior. The women, as well as the men, seem fond of little ornaments, but which they soon lay aside; and the A lively talkative lady, when she joined us in her canoe the day after we first ^^ landed, stood up and gave us a song that was not unpleasing. As most of the women have lost the two first joints of the little finger on the left hand, so most of the men want the right front Knocking tooth in the upi)er jaw, and have the gristle that separates the tooth. nostrils perforated, frequently having a piece of stick or a bone thrust through, and which does not add to their beauty. This is general, but I saw some very old men that had not lost the tooth, and whose noses were not pei-f orated for this ornament, t On my • ** The women are, besides, early subjected to an uncommon mutilation of the two first joints of the little finger of the left hand. The opertion is performed when they are very young, and is done with a hair or some other slisht ligature. This being tied around at the joint the flesh soon swells and in a few days — the circulation being destroyed — the finger mortifies and drops off. I never saw but one instance where the finger was taken off from the right hand, and that was occasioned by the mistoke of the mother. Before we knew them we took it to be their marriage ceremony, but on seeing their mutilated children we were convinced of our mistake, and at last learned that these joints of the little finger were supposed to be in the way when they wound their fishing lines over the hand." — Collins, p. 553. t ** Between the ages of eight and sixteen, the males and females undergo the operation of having the septum nad bored, to receive a bone or reed, whicn among them is aeemed a great ornament, though I have seen many whose articulation was thereby rendered very imperfect. Between the same years also the males receive the qualifications which are given them by losmg one of the front teeth." — lb., p. 563. The practice of striking out the front tooth is minutely described by the same author, pp. 579, 583. Digitized by Google