Raised scars as a consequence of incisions into the flesh on the shoulders, breast and arms is a custom widely spread amongst the natives of Australia. The effect of the scarification is so conspicuous and noticeable on the nude body of the savage, that nearly every author who met Australian natives observed the scars, but their meaning has not been secured and remains unknown.

I was lucky to be the first to discover the interesting details of this custom and reported them in a paper presented to the Royal Society of New South Wales on 5 October 1904. I have reprinted this article together with a number of others in the form of a book titled Ethnological Notes on the Aboriginal Tribes of New South Wales and Victoria. I can therefore refer my readers here to this work, where a short report of the Mumbirbirri ceremony can be found.^[12]