December 28th, 1839.
On that day took place one of the greatest celebrations among the natives that I have ever witnessed, namely the circumcision of five boys. They began by chasing the young people, with the women pretending not to admit it and shouting while the men laughed. Then the boys were led to the ( 205 ) place where they were to be circumcised, with their eyes covered, and when they had arrived they were laid on the ground and covered with clothes.

The women and children remained down in the riverbed throughout the entire ceremony, as they were forbidden to be spectators if they lost their belongings.

It seems as if the circumcision of some young people is usually arranged in secret by the elders, for not only are large numbers always gathered on this occasion (this time the number of men present was no less than 75), but one does not hear the least about it beforehand, as is usually the case with all their undertakings. --

When the boys were lying there and after a while they had rested and discussed the further course of the ceremony, a kind of race began, which the natives call Turlo yakkani* and which consists of the following.

A man runs towards another man, stomping and grumbling, and hugs him from behind. The latter, who has long been familiar with this sign, immediately takes off his clothes and begins to run as mightily as if he wanted to run to the end of the world; Meanwhile, constantly pursued on his heels by the first and another ( 206 ), he only runs until he is exhausted, where then the two pursuers, one by the shoulders and the other by the legs, take him and stretch him out along the length of the boy to be circumcised and lay him on his back, covering his entire body with dust.

One such person is now called Turlo, whose office it will later be to carry out the circumcision. This time six of them were hunted one after the other in this way, one for each of the five boys and one extra, perhaps as a reserve in case of inaction of one of their number.

As the last one was lying down, they began to raise the first one up again, one after the other, by one of them taking them by the head and something being said to them with great speed and in a bickering song by the one alone and soon afterwards by the people around who were pushing close, in which finally the person being raised up himself joined in with apparently great anger and eagerness, but when he was up, he and everyone used to laugh about it.

Now 11 - 19 mostly young men formed a regular line, in which the front man carried a staff, walked in circles twice around the entire camp and