So Also With Respect To Tattooing; In One Part Of The Continent It Is Adopted, In Another It Is Rejected;

When it is practised, there are many varieties in the form, number, or arrangement of the scars, distinguishing the different

Tribes, so that one stranger meeting with another any where in the woods, can at once tell, from the manner in which he is tattooed, the country and tribe to which he belongs, if not very remote. In the Adelaide district, Mr. Moorhouse has observed, that there are five stages to be passed through, before the native attains the rank of a bourka, or full grown man. The first is, that from birth to the tenth year, when he is initiated into the second, or Wilya kundarti, by being covered with blood, drawn from the arm of an adult; he is then allowed to carry a wirri for killing birds, and a small wooden spade (karko) for digging grubs out of the ground. At from twelve to fourteen, the third stage is entered, by having the ceremony of circumcision performed, which takes place in the following manner. Early in the morning, the boys to be circumcised are seized from behind, and a bandage is fastened over the eyes of each; they are then led away from the presence of the women and children to a distance of half a mile, when they are laid on the ground, and covered with a cloak, or skin, so as not to see what is passing amongst the adults, who proceed with the ceremony. Three of them now commence limping, and making a peculiar groaning noise, until they arrive opposite one of the boys, upon whom they seize.

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