Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/237

Rh which was begun upon his legs. Whenever the blood ceased to flow, the man either pinched up the part and rubbed off the coagulum with a little earth, or the boy inserted the fragment of glass to open the wound afresh; not a muscle of the man's face moving. A stick was occasionally held in the hand, and squeezed, in order to encourage the flow of blood. The group scrupulously kept silence during the performance, and the women were left at a considerable distance.

Another extraordinary ceremony, that of tattooing, is performed at the age of early manhood, and is frequently afterwards repeated. A number of men retire from the general body, and from the women; and the person who is to endure the operation is seized upon, apparently against his will, and only yields after some show of resistance. The instrument generally used is broken shell of the river-muscle, or a fragment of glass; the operation being repeated several times, at intervals, over the same spot, by which the cicatrix becomes considerably elevated above the surrounding skin, and this is most particularly the case over the breast-bone, where the scars form from one to a dozen transverse callous bands. Although the tattooing of the Australians possesses none of the symmetrical accuracy of that practised by the New Zealanders, and other uncivilised nations; yet the different tribes seem to be guided by something like rule, in certain variations of pattern easily perceivable, but difficult to describe. The parts generally selected for the operation are the shoulders, back and breast; seldom any part below the waist, and never the face. Tattooing is not exclusively confined to men; but that of the women is mostly limited to those bands over the breast-bone above described. After a man has undergone the process, he secludes himself, for a season, from the society of women, and, in some measure, from that of men also. A cord, made of the fur of the opossum, is tied around each arm, about one-third below the shoulder, and he is presented with two sticks, which are nothing more than common twigs, but worn smooth from constant use. These he carries about with him for some time after the period of his seclusion has terminated.