CIRCUMCISION.
1 Khatna, . . . . ARAB. Soontan, . . . . HIND Circoncision, . . . FR. Circoncisione, . . . IT Beschneidung, . . GER. Circuncision, . . . SP The Phcenicians had this rite in common witl the Egyptians and the Jews, who acknow ledge having derived it from the former. Ac .cording to Bunsen, however (iv. p. 273), it wa; not followed amongst the Phcenicians. It seem: to have been a Semitic rite, which Abraham. revived, for he was ninety-nine years old wher lie circumcised himself, Ishmael his son wa; thirteen, and Isaac was one year old. This ritE DOW is practised amongst all the Jewish peoph and most Mahomedans. With the latter On usual tinie is in infancy, though the poverty ol the parents and other circumstances sometime; retard its performance. It is performed with some ceremonial, and in presence of the friend: of the family. It was prohibited by Akbar until the age of twelve, when the person to undergo ii 'could judge of the propriety of the rite. It i: not even mentioned in the Koran. It is considered as an act of imitative practice founded on the example of the disciples, but not on that ol Mahomed himself. In Oman, on the shores oi the Persian Gulf, among the Christians of Abys sinia, and in Egypt among the Arabs and Copts, the custom is prevalent. At Bosra and Baghdad, all the women of Arabian blood circumcise theft daughters as well as their sons. At Cairo the women who perform this operation are as well known as midwives. They are openly called into
houses of the people, without any secret being made of the,intention with which they are invited. This is noticed by several Mahomedan writers, viz. in the Dur-ul-Mukhtar, the Tahtavi, and Fattah-ul-Muain, and, according to the last book, it is the inner labia that are removed. The Spaniards, at the time of the conquest of Central America, found circumcision practised, and it is still observed by the Tecuma and Manus tribes. Amongst the people in the Gulf of Carpentaria, all the males before the age of twelve or fourteen years undergo this rite. This custom is not derived from the 3Iacassars, the latter affirming that it existed previous to the commencement of their intercourse with the coast. Flinders ob served a case upon the Wellesley Islands, and the custom is also prevalent amongst the natives of certain parts of the south coast of Australia. 3Ir. Earl says a peculiar formation prevails among the aborigines of this part of Australia, and also of the adjacent coast of New Guinea, which renders the practice exceedingly conducive to comfort and health. — Earl in Ethn. Lib. i.; Niebuhr, Travel.s, ii. pp. 250, 251 ; Malcolm's Hist. of Persia, ii. p. 339 ; Bunsen's Egypt, iv. p. 273 ; liermlotus, ii. p. 36. . _ _ .. ..