Note 236 — Chapter II
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Footnote 236
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Hence we may conjecture that the similar ornaments worn by Mabuiag girls in similar circumstances are also amulets. See above, p. 36. Among the aborigines of the Upper Yarra river in Victoria, a girl at puberty used to have cords tied very tightly round several parts of her body. The cords were worn for several days, causing the whole body to swell very much and inflicting great pain. The girl might not remove them till she was clean. See R. Brough Smyth, Aborigines of Victoria (Melbourne and London, 1878), i. 65. Perhaps the cords were intended to arrest the flow of blood.