3S-1 liKCOKDS OF TUK ACSTUALIAX ML'SKUM. 



friend.'" And those wlio bad previously attended to the corpse 

 now leave the locality where the flesh is buried in the ground. 

 The women dare by no means go to the spot again or walk on the 

 same road or e\'en drink water from this place which is now 

 ' tabu ' except to the old men. If tlie women did so they would 

 be killed hy the deceased's spirits : that is what they are 

 friglitened of, and so they always take another road while the 

 men follow the usualtrack. After some time when the corpse 

 becomes old, the men cut off their liair and beard out of regard 

 to the deceased, and burn some of his property, not all, but only 

 some. The women also cut their hair" : this done, they all 

 lament again over the dead. But what the girls and widows now 

 have to fear is that some one might take them, tiow that their 

 hair has been cut. For when their liair is cut men can take tliem 

 to wife, and tlie widow is claimed l)y the deceased's younger 

 brother." 



The trougli is carried about at least until the hair is cut, and 

 finally buried somewhere in deceased's own countr}', hidden in a 

 cave, or put under the ground : it is the mother or mother's 

 sister who carries it about. The carrying about of the remains 

 here is locally believed to be a sign of love and affection : were 

 the survivors not to ensure its being properly carried out, it 

 would look as if the deceased had had no friends among the 

 tribe. 



Old men and old women, so long as they are inhrm, are buried 

 straight away without any ceremon}'. 



6 The Bloomfield River natives^- make a distinction in the 

 final obsequies between those males who have passed their days 

 in comparative peace and quiet and those who have rendered 

 themselves unusually prominent. 



In- the case of any male who happens to have no powerful 

 relatives, or who has never made himself conspicous by any deeds 

 of A'alour or [U'owess, and in the case of any female whatsoever — 



1" He tluis coiilirnis tlie guilt of the alreadv suspected person who has been 

 blamed, and who will sooner or later be made to pay the penalty, usually 

 a life for a life. 



^1 Tlie hair so eut from the mourners is rolled tightly round a stick, and 

 placed upon the trough enclosing the deceased. No marriages amongst 

 the relatives of the deceased arc allowed to take place imtil the hair- 

 cut ting takes place. 



^■' 1 am indebted to Mr. R. Hislop, late of Wyalla, Bloomlield River, for 

 much ot this information. 



