The voice of the Australian is melodious, though sometimes hoarse, and gives evidence of musical propensity. Both men and women have a high tone of voice; bass and falsetto voices are rare.
The natives are as fond of decorating their bodies as a sailor is, but they do it clumsily with a sharp stone or a clam-shell, with which primitive instruments they cut parallel lines across the breast and stomach. To keep the wounds from healing they put charcoal or ashes in them for a month or two until they swell up into rough ridges. Sometimes they gain the same result by letting ants walk about in the wounds. The shoulders are cut in the same manner, with lines running down three or four inches, making them look as if they had epaulets. In course of time these peculiar lines, which in young men are conspicuous and as thick as one’s little finger, become indistinct, so that on old men they are scarcely visible. They always indicate a certain rank, determined by age. Young boys below a certain age are not decorated, but in course of time they get a few lines across the breast and stomach. Gradually the number of lines is increased, and at last when the lad is full grown, crescents are cut round the papillæ of the breast, the horns of the crescent turning outward, thus: ·) (·. This external evidence that the boy is of age is given to him with certain ceremonies, and the strips of skin, which gradually fall off from the wounds as they heal, are gathered in a little basket, which he subsequently carries for some time about his neck until he finally throws its contents out in the woods—gives it to the “devil” as it is called. This is the only trace of a cult that I observed among the blacks of Herbert river, and they doubtless regard it as a sort of sacrifice to avert the wrath of evil spirits. From this time the young man is permitted to eat whatever he pleases, but previously he has been obliged to abstain from certain things, such as eels, large lizards, etc. The transition from boyhood to manhood is not here, as it is in many other parts of Australia, marked by the extraction of one of the front teeth.[[9]]
[9]. A gentleman well known to me told me the following about the Rockhampton blacks: I one day made two or three of those buzzing things, formed by cutting notches in a thin piece of wood with a hole at one end, through which a piece of string is tied; this instrument is whirled quickly round and round one’s head, producing a great noise. I gave these to some black children near my station to play with; directly the noise began the women covered their heads at the command of their men; some of the blacks bolted into the scrub, while two ran up and seized the things from the boys, whom they sent off to the camp. They then told me that in old times these boys would have been killed for seeing those things, which were used only at their “Bora” (transition from boyhood to manhood) ceremonies. I told them that such pieces of wood were common playthings in my country, nevertheless they burnt them in the scrub shortly after.
SMALL BASKET CARRIED ABOUT THE NECK, HERBERT RIVER.
In addition to these marks of dignity, a man also gets other lines, which are intended as an ornament and are found chiefly on the arms. They are straight, short, parallel lines made in groups across the arm, and the wounds are permitted to heal, so that the lines do not become too prominent. A deep cut here and there is also made on the back or on the shoulder-blade. I never saw the face ornamented by incisions.
The men alone receive the above-described marks of dignity on their chests, stomachs, and shoulders. It is their privilege to be decorated with lines and marks cut in the flesh, and it is not considered proper for women to pay much attention to ornaments. The greatest ornament that a woman ever has is a few clumsy marks across the chest (frequently across the breasts), arms, and back. She is very fond of the ornaments granted her, and the sensitiveness which usually characterises the natives is entirely wanting when they are about to be adorned in this way. I once saw two women engaged in cutting marks on each other’s arms with a piece of glass. These marks consisted of short parallel lines down the arms like those worn by the men, but the operation did not seem to give them the least pain, for they smoked their pipes the whole time.
Tattooing in the strictest sense of the word—that is, pricking the skin with a sharp instrument—does not exist among the Australians, but only the above-described custom of cutting wounds in the flesh.
On the same morning that the borboby ended I started on my new expedition, taking this opportunity of securing companions, there being so many blacks assembled. In addition to those who accompanied me on my first expedition I secured three new men. We were to go to another “land,” where yarri and boongary were abundant. Tired from the exertions of the previous day, and consequently more lazy than usual, the blacks repeatedly urged me to encamp, although we had travelled only a few miles. We ascended along a mountain stream and passed on our way one of the deserted camps of the blacks, where Pickle-bottle was determined to stop. I called his attention to the fact that the “sun was yet large” (still early in the day), and that neither yarri nor boongary were to be found here; but he replied that there were plenty of them in this locality, and that this was a good place to eat.