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Afterwards the boys are put out of the camp, and while being
chased by one party of seniors are met by another, who catch them and
toss them up, letting them fall down upon the ground.

Following upon the tossing, the elders perform a corroboree for
the delectation of the novitiates. Each youth, with his head covered
up, is then carried upon the shoulders of one of the initiators, who
cries out: "There's a big flood, we must cross the creek," This of
course is only make-believe, but the boy is led to suppose he has run
the risk of drowning.

They are taken back to the camp, and, when let go, another party
of men approaches, ready for fighting. One of them gives two cooeys
and immediately the young fellows begin to paint their helemon (shields),
preparing for battle. But, before starting, they give one united cooey.
They are then associated with one party of men, preparatory to engaging
in real fighting, and the following day a fight takes place in ernest.
When the fight is over, all the gins, both young and old, welcome the
youths to the camp, clapping on the front of their thighs with their
hands placed both together.

The young men are next taken into the large circle, and, amid
much shouting, singing and yelling, one of the wizards cuts them on
the shoulder or back with a crystal, to form cicatrices distinctive
of the tribe the particular boy belongs to. One account affirms that
other attendants also cut the boy on the back and chest, and that after
considerable howling, the boys are taken out of the circle back to their
camp.

When the incicions[sic] are healed, the novitiate enters the common
camp, where, at first, no notice is taken of him. He has his own sleep-
ing place, which he must not leave, and where a gin must not as yet
venture. What appears to be a marriage ceremony now occurs. A gin
painted red, and having a cockatoo feather in her hair, is brought to
the boy by one of the Kamaran, who pulls the feather out of her hair and
places it on the hair of the boy. The gin may then return to her own
camp without even touching him. When taken back to the camp by the old
man, all the other females salute her, clapping their hands on their
thighs as already described. For about a week the young man is not
allowed to look in the direction of the women's camp. Then the young
gin returns and makes a camp by him. They touch each other and there-
by they become man and wife.

No doubt the foregoing accounts combined of the initiation ceremon-
ies are at best fragmentary, but they embody all that was essential,
and the marriage ceremony as described above is a fresh and unique
feature.

The bodies of the men were invariably ornamented with gaping
cicatrices. The different tribes were distinguished by the patterns
according to which the scars were arranged. They were cut on the
muscular parts of the back, breast, and upper arm with a crystal,
a shell, or a sharp flint. After a deep incision had been made, the
wound was filled up with a paste of fat and powdered charcoal, to keep
it open. It sloughed for some time and, when healed, had the appearance
of two lips. The formation of certain cicatrices, as has been seen,
constituted a painful part of the initiation ceremonies, but others were
incised under much milder conditions. I once witnessed three or four
being cut on a youth of about twenty years of age by his own mother,
evidently at his own request. He was lying on the ground face down,
while she was carving away at his back with a piece of glass.

Besides the incisions made for adornment, others were made as an
expression of grief, In this matter the women exceeded the men. After
a night of mourning, I have seem their bodies marked with small incis-
ions from top to toe, with the dry blood still about them. The women
incised the front of the head for grief, the men the back of the head.
Occasionally they paid respect to the memory of white people in the
same way. My uncle, Mr. John Mortimer, had stood by a blackfellow,

(over)