Page:Native Tribes of South-East Australia.djvu/772

746 Kura sub-class there are one horizontally between the breasts and three vertically on the side of the biceps of each arm. In the Budu sub-class there are three horizontally between the breasts, and below a line which would pass through the nipples. Two above these inclined at an angle from each other like the letter V, and five horizontal lines on each biceps. In the Wenung sub-class there are three perpendicular between the breasts. The scars are cut by the medicine-men (Mobunbai).

In the Yuin tribe the scars cut upon the body were not made until after the initiation ceremonies. In the case of one man who had cicatrices vertically round the upper arm, he said that they were made in that manner to cause boomerangs to glance off. This is of course merely a preventive charm. Scars are cut on both boys and girls.

In Frazer's Island (Queensland), a boy of the White Cliff tribe was marked with five vertical scars down the centre of the chest, and he pointed out to me that he differed from those at Bundaberg in so far that they had three horizontally round the front of the body.

In the Moreton Bay tribe scars were cut when the boys were made Kippurs. The scars are two or three inches apart, just below the nipples, and extending across the breast. When the boy is older, other scars are cut lower down. While these cuts are being made by one old man, another one claps his hands over the ears of the patient to keep the pain away, and roars out a chant. In the Bunya tribe there are three horizontal cuts above each nipple. The Ipswich tribe had cuts vertically on each arm below the shoulder. Each tribe was differently marked. There were also marks made on the back in all of these tribes, but these were mostly done when mourning for death. The cuts were rubbed in with the charcoal of the Bloodwood tree.

In the coastal branch of the Turrbal tribe each woman had the two joints of one little finger taken off, when a girl,