y is put to the test.
Initiatory ceremonies fall at the time of puberty in the candidate,
and consist of instruction and trials of fortitude. A certain show of
the proceeds of activity is also exacted of young men, especially
in connection with marriage, and the youth is not permitted to marry
until he has killed certain animals or acquired certain trophies. The
attention given to manly practices in connection with marriage is seen
in this example from the Kukis:

When a young man has fixed his affections upon a young woman,
either of his own or some neighboring _Parah_, his father
visits her father and demands her in marriage for his son: her
father, on this, inquires what are the merits of the young
man to entitle him to her favor; and how many can he afford
to entertain at the wedding feast; to which the father of
the young man replies that his son is a brave warrior, a good
hunter, and an expert thief; for that he can produce so many
heads of the enemies he has slain and of the game he has
killed; that in his house are such and such stolen goods;
and that he can feast so many (mentioning the number) at his
marriage.[189]

Occasionally the ability to take punishment is even made a part of the
marriage ceremony. At Arab marriages

there is much feasting, and the unfortunate bridegroom
undergoes the ordeal of whipping by the relations of his
bride, in order to test his courage. Sometimes this punishment
is exceedingly severe, being inflicted with the coorbatch,
or whip of hippopotamus hide, which is cracked vigorously
about his ribs and back. If the happy husband wishes to
be considered a man worth having, he must receive the
chastisement with an expression of enjoyment; in which case
the crowds of women in admiration again raise their thrilling
cry.[190]

A very simple record of successful activity is the bones of animals.
McCosh says of the Mishmis of India:

Nor are these hospitable rites allowed to be forgotten; the
skull of every animal that has graced the board is hung up
as a record in the hall of the entertainer; he who has
the best-stocked Golgotha is looked upon as the man of the
greatest wealth and liberality, and when he dies the whole
smoke-dried collection of many years is piled upon his grave
as a monument of his riches and a memorial of his worth.[191]

And Grange of the Nagas: