Page:Native Tribes of South-East Australia.djvu/766

740 In the Turrbal tribe a name was usually given to a child when about a week old. It was either the name of a place, or a bird, or an animal, or fish. Another name was given to a boy when he was made a young man. But a girl retained her child's name through life. When a man was thirty or forty he received another name. They were never named after their father or mother.

In the Maryborough tribes a child receives a name as an infant. If a girl, the name remains always the same, but if a boy, the name is changed at the Dora ceremonies.

The friends of a man or a woman use the personal name in speaking to him or her. That is to say, the name given to him at the Dora, and to her in childhood. Old men address a girl as Wurgu (girl), and a boy as Ogbin (boy). A man and his wife address each other with the word Ura (Heigh!). They do not speak to each other as "husband" or "wife," that is, by the words in their language with those meanings. People do not generally use a person's name to commence a conversation with them, but seek a favourable moment to catch their eye, or attract their attention by some remark, and then continue speaking.

In the Kurnai tribe the perforation of the septum of the nose was usually made when the boy was growing up, but some time before he was initiated. Some of the men might notice him as growing up, or his young men friends might say to him, "You ought to have Ngrung; it won't hurt you." Ngrung is short for Ngrung-kong, or nose-hole. If he consents, he lies down on his back, and his friend takes hold of the septum of his nose, extends it, moistens it with saliva, and then rapidly pierces it with a sharp bone instrument. The patient must not show any sign of feeling pain. This being done, he jumps up and extends his arms out quickly from the shoulder, and jerks each leg in succession. This proceeding is supposed to aid the Ngrung-kong in causing