Page:Native Tribes of South-East Australia.djvu/701

X touch of women. Even the bird hit by the club, or the kangaroo speared by their spear, or the fish taken by their hook, is Narumbe. Even if their implements are used by other men, the proceeds are forbidden to all females.

They are not allowed to take wives until the time during which they are Narumbe. But they are allowed the privilege of promiscuous intercourse with the younger portion of the sex.

Any violation of these customs is punished by the old men by death, sometimes by Millin, that is, magic, but often by more violent methods.

The tribes which lived on the Lower Murray and Darling Rivers and extending back to the Barrier and Grey Ranges did not practise circumcision or subincision, but had initiation ceremonies which, in some respects, resembled those of the western type.

Dr. M'Kinlay, who lived among the Maraura-speaking tribes of the Lower Darling River in the early days of settlement, told me that before the young men were admitted to rank as men they were subject for some years to very strict discipline. Every six or seven years there was a great meeting from long distances for the purpose of passing eligible candidates. In one case which came under his notice, a young man was seized by two or three men, stretched out on the ground, and all the hair plucked from his cheeks and chin, and given to his mother, who was present, crying and lamenting. He was then taken away for a week into the scrub, where he underwent some discipline; and when he returned he looked miserable and half-starved. There was no circumcision in the Maraura tribes.

In the tribes of the Itchumundi nation, circumcision is practised by the Wilga, Kongait, and Bulalli tribes. The Tongaranka knock out only one incisor and depilate the private parts. The tooth is either the right or the left upper incisor, according as the boy uses his right or left hand in using a digging-stick. He carries the tooth and hair with