ere very anxious that the gift should not come to the
knowledge of the men of Cam-mer-ray, and repeatedly said that they were
intended for them.

In alluding to this ceremony, whether by pointing to the vacancy
occasioned by the lost tooth, or by adverting to any of the curious
scenes exhibited on the occasion, the words Yoo-lahng erah-ba-diahng were
always used; but to denote the loss of any other tooth the word
bool-bag-ga was applied. The term Yoo-lahng erah-ba-diahng must therefore
be considered as applying solely to this extraordinary occasion; it
appears to be compounded of the name given to the spot where the
principal scenes take place, and of the most material qualification that
is derived from the whole ceremony, that of throwing the spear. I
conceive this to be the import of the word erah-ba-diahng, erah being a
part of the verb to throw, erah, throw you, erailley, throwing.

Being thus entered on 'the valued file,' they quickly assume the
consequence due to the distinction, and as soon as possible bring their
faculties into action. The procuring of food really seems to be but a
secondary business with them; the management of the spear and the shield,
dexterity in throwing the various clubs they have in use among them,
agility in either attacking or defending, and a display of the constancy
with which they endure pain, appearing to rank first among their concerns
in life. The females too are accustomed to bear on their heads the traces
of the superiority of the males, with which they dignify them almost as
soon as they find strength in the arm to imprint the mark. We have seen
some of these unfortunate beings with more scars upon their shorn heads,
cut in every direction, than could be well distinguished or counted. The
condition of these women is so wretched, that I have often, on seeing a
female child borne on its mother's shoulders, anticipated the miseries to
which it was born, and thought it would be a mercy to destroy it.
Notwithstanding, however, that they are the mere slaves of the men, I
have generally found, in tracing the causes of their quarrels, that the
women were at the head of them, though in some cases remotely. They
mingled in all the contests of the men; and one of these, that was in the
beginning attended with some ceremony, was opened by a woman:

We had been told for some days of their making great preparations for a
fight, and gladly heard that they had chosen a clear spot near the tow