Or shell, and cuts perpendicular gashes an inch
long, three-sixteenths of an inch deep, and about half an inch apart,
in horizontal lines from right to left quite across the back, the rows
being half an inch or three-quarters distant from each other.
[Note 79: Hoc plerumque menstruis jam primum venientibus factum est:
saepe autem puellis propter timorem statum suam celantibus, aut aliqua
alia ex causa, opus quod tempore menstruali fieri prorsus necessarium est,
in proxima differtur.]
This is carried up the whole way from where he commences to the
shoulders, and when freshly done, presents one of the most dreadful
spectacles imaginable, the blood gushes out in torrents, and though
frequently wiped away with grass by some of the women present, is
scarcely removed before the crimson stream flows as profusely as ever.
During the time of the ceremony the mother and other female relations
lament and mourn, whilst they lacerate their bodies with shells. When the
incisions are all made, grass or boughs are warmed at the fire, to wipe
off the blood. The whole scene is most revolting and disgusting; the
ground near where the poor creature sits is saturated with blood, and the
whole back is one mass of coagulated gore. In one case, where I saw this
operation performed upon a girl belonging to the Paritke tribe, she
seemed to suffer much pain.
