The population of Muralug is kept always about the same numerical standard by the small number of births, and the occasional practice of infanticide.  Few women rear more than three children, and besides, most of those born before marriage are doomed to be killed immediately after birth, unless the father—­which is seldom the case—­is desirous of saving the child—­if not, he gives the order marama teio (throw it into the hole) and it is buried alive accordingly.  Even of other infants some, especially females, are made away with in a similar manner when the mother is disinclined to support it.

Naming of children.

An infant is named immediately after birth:  and, on Muralug, these names for the last few years have been chosen by a very old man named Guigwi.  Many of these names have a meaning attached to them:  thus, two people are named respectively Wapada and Passei, signifying particular trees, one woman is called Kuki, or the rainy season, and her son Ras, or the driving cloud.  Most people have several names, for instance, old Guigwi was also called Salgai, or the firesticks, and Mrs. Thomson was addressed as Kesagu, or Taomai, by her (adopted) relatives, but as Giaom by all others.  Children are usually suckled for about two years, but are soon able, in a great measure, to procure their own food, especially shellfish, and when strong enough to use the stick employed in digging up roots, they are supposed to be able to shift for themselves.

Compression of the skull.

A peculiar form of head, which both the Kowrarega and Gudang blacks consider as the beau ideal of beauty, is produced by artificial compression during infancy.  Pressure is made by the mother with her hands—­as I have seen practised on more than one occasion at Cape York—­one being applied to the forehead and the other to the occiput, both of which are thereby flattened, while the skull is rendered proportionally broader and longer than it would naturally have been.*

(Footnote.  Precisely the same form of skull as that alluded to in volume 1:  hence it is not unreasonable to suppose that the latter might have been artificially produced.)

When the child is about a fortnight old the perforation in the septum of the nose is made by drilling it with a sharp-pointed piece of tortoise-shell, but the raised artificial scars, regarded as personal ornaments by the Australians and Torres Strait Islanders, are not made until long afterwards.  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 chewed leaf of a certain plant (which, however, I could not identify) is introduced into the wound to prevent the edges from uniting, and a daub of wet clay is then placed over all, and kept there until the necessary effect has been produced.  The principal scarifications among women at Cape York and Muralug are in the form of long lines across the hips.  Among the men, however, there is considerable variety.