he opportunity of
again lightening our loads by sending on board some more of the baggage
and the light cart. This, by decreasing the number of our teams, would, I
thought, enable me to change the horses occasionally in the others, and
give me an extra man to assist in clearing a road through the scrub,
Having completed my arrangements, I sent on the WATERWITCH to the
north-east part of Denial Bay, to land water there, as I did not expect
to get any until our arrival at Point Peter. Mr. Scott accompanied the
cutter, having expressed a wish to take a trip in her for a few days.

During the forenoon we were visited by a party of natives, who came to
get water at the hole in the sand. They were not much alarmed, and soon
became very friendly, remaining near us all night; from them I learned
that there was no water inland, and none along the coast for two days'
journey, after which we should come to plenty, at a place called by them
"Beelimah Gaip-pe;." Their language was nearly the same as that of Port
Lincoln, intermixed with a few words in use at King George's Sound,
and I now regretted greatly that I had not the Western Australian native
with me.

I found a most singular custom prevailing among the natives of this part
of the country, which I had never found to exist anywhere else (except at
Port Lincoln), and the origin of which it would be most difficult to
account for. In various parts of Australia some of the tribes practise
the rite of circumcision, whilst others do not; but in the Port Lincoln
peninsula, and along the coast to the westward, the natives not only are
circumcised, but have in addition another most extraordinary ceremonial.
[Note 24: Finditus usque ad urethram a parte infera penis.] Among the party
of natives at the camp I examined many, and all had been operated upon.
The ceremony with them seemed to have taken place between the ages
of twelve and fourteen years, for several of the boys of that age
had recently undergone the operation, the wounds being still fresh
and inflamed. This extraordinary and inexplicable custom must have a
great tendency to prevent the rapid increase of the population; and its
adoption may perhaps be a wise ordination of Providence, for that
purpose, in a country of so desert and arid a character as that which
these people occupy.

November 10.--Getting the party away about five o'clock this morning, I
persuaded one of the natives, named "Wilguldy," an intelligent cheerful