338 "widow's cap" of the Australian aborigines, 



doubtful, for according to the late Mr. T. Worsnop, of Adelaide,* 

 the widow's head is plastered by female relatives of deceased. 



The period of retention varied according to tribe. Bulmer 

 mentionsf a few days only, and speaks of renewal, but Worsnop 

 is more explicit, assigning six months as the period of mourning. 

 The Rev. R. W. Holden reportsj that in the Marowera Tribe, at 

 the junction of the Rivers Darling and Murray, the period of 

 retention is twelve months. At any rate, the cap appears to 

 have been generally retained for a lengthened period. 



Other parts of the body besides the head were whitened by the 

 cap-bearers. A figure^^ of a woman in mourning, by Angas, 

 exhibits in addition a whitened forehead and left side of the face, 

 a streak across the upper lip, around the nose and chin, whitened 

 breast, and a patch on the top of the upper left arm. This figure 

 has been several times copied by authors. The supplementary 

 plastering seems to have been wide spread, for Mr. F. Bonney 

 informs|| us, amongst other writers, that the women of certain of 

 the Darling River tx'ibes smeared themselves o\er both the face 

 and body. 



The inconvenience caused by these caps, if from no other point 

 of view than that of weight, must have been great, for it has 

 been remarked^ that " the poor woman generally complained of 

 pain in the head during her mourning, but fashion must be 

 followed at all risks." So completely was the head covered that 

 of some of the Murray Natives Krefft says,** " the deeper they 

 mourn, the more gypsum is laid on, so that sometimes nothing 

 but the eyes, nose, and mouth remain uncovered." The actual 

 weights recorded are as follows : — Eyre givesff the weight of a 



* Prehistoric Arts, 3rd Edit., 1897, p. 62. 



+ Journ. R. Geogr. Soc. Austr. (Vict. Br.), 1888, v. Pt. 1, p. 23. 



X Taplin's Folklore, 1879, p. 27. 



§ S. Australia Illustrated, 1846, pi. 51, f. 20. 



II Journ. Anthrop. Inst., 1884, xiii. p. 135. 



IT Bulmer, Journ. R. Geogr. Soc. Austr. (Vict. Br.), 1888, v. Pt. l,p. 23. 



** Trans. Phil. Soc. N.S. Wales, 1862G5 [1866], p. 373. 



tt Journ. Exped. Discovery in Central Australia, 1846, ii. p. 354 



