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Updated: May 29, 2025
Among other pieces of etiquette to be practised after marriage among both the Kowraregas and Gudangs, a man must carefully avoid speaking to or even mentioning the name of his mother-in-law, and his wife acts similarly with regard to her father-in-law.
Thus the Kowraregas have acquired from their island neighbours the art of cultivating the ground, and their superior dexterity in constructing and navigating large canoes, together with some customs such as that of preserving the skulls of their enemies as trophies: while they retain the use of the spear and throwing-stick, practise certain mysterious ceremonies connected with the initiation of boys to the rights of manhood supposed to be peculiar to the Australian race and hold the females in the same low and degraded position which they occupy throughout Australia.
After sneezing, they make violent gestures with the hands and arms; if a joint cracks, they imagine that someone is speaking of them or wishing them well in the direction in which the arm is pointing. The only tradition which I heard of occurs among the Kowraregas, and is worth mentioning for its singularity.
Among the Kowraregas, there are, according to Giaom, three principal people, Manu, Piaquai, and Baki, all old men, but among the Gudangs, a young man of twenty-five of the name of Tumagugo appeared to have the greatest influence, and next to him Paida, not more than six or eight years older.
According to Giaom, who states that among the Kowraregas this scarification is purely voluntary, the patient is laid upon the ground and held there, while the incisions are made with a piece of glass by some old man famous for his skill in performing the operation. The principal scarifications among women at Cape York and Muralug are in the form of long lines across the hips.
This explained the fire, so another was lit in reply to the challenge, and at night a party of Kowraregas in six canoes, containing all the men and lads of the tribe, crossed over to the main.
The custom of undergoing a certain mysterious ceremony prior to being admitted to the privileges of manhood, supposed to be an institution peculiar to the Australians, is found among the Kowraregas, but whether it extends throughout Torres Strait is uncertain.
The Kowraregas returned to their island with much exultation, announcing their approach by great shouting and blowing on conchs.
According to Giaom, there are laws regulating the ownership of every inch of ground on Muralug and the neighbouring possessions of the Kowraregas, and I am led to believe such is likewise the case at Cape York. Among these laws are the following: A person has a claim upon the ground where both himself and his parents were born, although situated in different localities.
The human bones were the remains of a man killed there many years ago by a party of Kowraregas who took his head away with them.
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