BURIAL CEREMONIES. 149 



like most other savag-es^ recover in a most surprising- 

 manner from wounds and other injuries which would 

 probably prove fatal to an European. The chief 

 complaint to which they are subject is a mild form 

 of ophthalmia^ with a\ hich I once saw three -fourths of 

 the natives about the settlement affected in one 

 or both eyes; they themselves attributed this 

 affection to the hirgala^ or cashew-nut^ then in 

 season^ the acrid oil in the husk of which had 

 reached their eyes. 



On the death of any one of the natives^ the 

 relatives g^ive utterance to their grief in loud cries^ 

 sobs^ and shrieks^ continued to exhaustion. Some 

 cut their bodies and tear their hair, and the Avomen 

 paint their faces with broad w hite bands. The body 

 is watched by nig-ht, and the appearance of the first 

 fallino' star is hailed Avith loud shouts and Avavino* of 

 fire-brands^ to drive off the yumhurhary an evil spirit 

 which is the cause of all deaths and other calamities, 

 and feeds on the entrails of the ncAA^y dead. When 

 decomposition has g'one on sufficiently far, the bones 

 are carefully removed, painted red, Avrapped up in 

 bark^ and carried about ivith the tribe foi* some 

 time ; after AA^hich they are finally deposited^ either 

 in a hollo AV tree or a shalloAV g*rave, over Avhich a Ioav 

 mound of earth and stones is raised, occasionally 

 ornamented A\ith posts at the corners. I Avas 

 unable to find out A\'hat circumstances determine the 

 mode of burial in each case ) neither differences of 

 sex^ ag-e, or class are sufficient, as several native^ 



