Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/74

 16 MAKING "YOUNG MEN." of men. They are taught to believe that disease will be the result if they break this rule. For some few weeks I had been persuading a boy to cut and comb his hair, offering as an inducement the gift of new clothes; at last, after a great deal of hesitation, he did as I wished, and I gave him the clothes. Afterwards his mother reproached me for advising her son to take such an imprudent step, and I observed that the lad seemed nervous. On that very day he became ill, and I have no doubt that his illness was caused solely by superstitious fear of the result of having his hair cut. Of course, the old people will paint to this as an instance of the dangerous effects of breaking native customs. We can scarcely comprehend the power of imagination over the mind of a savage. The boys also are forbidden to eat thirteen different sorts of game; and it is said that if they eat them, they will become prematurely grey. I have no doubt that the original object of this custom was, the making of a provision for the old people and women; for the game which is forbidden to the boys is easily obtained and is nourishing food. If, therefore, they were allowed to partake of it, such animals would probably soon be exterminated, for the whole tribe would feed on them to the neglect of those animals which are more difficult to obtain; so a regulation has at some time or other been made to prevent the boys from eating them; and thus these animals are preserved to the old people and women. By this means, also, they are made sure of getting some of the spoils of the chase carried on by the young men and boys, who do not hesitate to kill such animals if they get a chance, but never eat them themselves, always reserving them for the old people. When the beard of a youth has grown a sufficient length he is made narumbe, kaingani, or young man. In order that this ceremony may be properly performed, and the youth admitted as an equal among the men of the Narrinyeri, it is necessary that members of several different tribes should be present on the occasion. A single tribe cannot make its own youths narumbe without the assistance of other tribes. This prevents any tribe