Feb. 25, 1856.] EQUIPMENT OF N. AUSTRALIAN EXPEDITION. 49 



literally trussed, like a fowl, and placed under a dish-cover. Many- 

 relics of this form are now conaing home. The tomb might be de- 

 scribed as a small platform of bricks, on which the body was placed, 

 with a dish of dates, some corn, and a bowl of water. On opening 

 these tombs, the hand of the skeleton is generally found in the dish 

 among the date-stones. 



The slipper-bath coffins were those fashionable at Wurka. They 

 belonged most probably to the Parthian era. 



The sepulchral jars are, however, the most extraordinary. Restated 

 that he had seen hundreds of them containing skeletons, and the sin- 

 gular fact was, that the cranium is always larger than the neck of the 

 jar. He had seen mounds composed entirely of such jars, and in no case 

 can the skeleton be got out without breaking the jar. The jar must 

 either have been moulded round the skeleton and then baked, or the 

 neck (or bottom) must have been fastened on to the jar after the body 

 was placed within it.* 



General Monteith said, that when at Bushire, he had fallen in with 

 many of these jars. He had never seen bodies in them, but only ashes 

 and ornaments. The jars were much like common water-jars, about 

 18 inches high and a foot in diameter. The tops were fastened on. 

 The jars were placed in caves, and he had frequently seen them im- 

 bedded in sandstone. Among the ornaments he had seen beads and a 

 piece of brass, which had evidently been smelted. 



ADDITIONAL NOTICES. 



Equipment of the North Australian Expedition. 



Extract from a Letter addressed to Mr. Galton by Mr. Baines, 

 Artist to the North Australian Expedition, describing the Particu- 

 lars of its Outfit. 



The Party. — Commander, A. C. Gregory ; Assistant, H. C. Gregory ; Geologist, 

 J. G. Wilson; Artist and Storekeeper, T. JBaines ; Surgeon and NTaturalist, J. R. 



Elsey ; Botanist, F. Miiller ; Collector, Natural History, &c. Flood ; Overseer, 



J. Phibbs ; Farrier and Smith ; Harness-maker ; Stockmen, European (9) ; Shep- 

 herds, Native (2).— Total, 21. 



Provisions, Sfc.for 18 Months. — 17,000 lbs. flour, 5,000 lbs. salt pork, 2,000 lbs. 

 bacon, 2,000 lbs. preserved fresh meat in 6 lb. tins, 2,800 lbs. rice, 2,500 lbs. sugar, 

 400 lbs. tea, 350 lbs. tobacco, 350 lbs. soap, 50 lbs. pepper, 500 lbs. salt, 100 galls, 

 vinegar, 300 sheep, 200 lbs. sago, 640 pints peas, 2 cwt. coffee, 500 lbs. lime juice, 

 6 galls, lamp oil, 1 lb. cotton wick, 3 cwt. preserved potatoes. 



* The jars to which Sir H. Rawlinson alludes are of Sassanian origin, and 

 therefore of the latest date. Mr. Loftus met with them commonly during the 

 excavations at Susa, in Persia ; but they never occur at Wurka, or in any of the 

 more ancient mounds. 



