NOIiTII i^rKKNSI.ANI) iril 1 N< H Mi A PI I V -- IMTI 1 . 3>85 



directly such an one is dead, the body is \vra})ped up in a sheet of 

 tea-tree bark, with the arms laid at the sides or crossed over the 

 breast. It is thus kept for a few days until the relatixes, for 

 whom the messengei's have been sent, can come up and view the 

 body which is uncovered from its wrajjpings as occasion re(]uires. 

 Each night the body is mourned, the mourners covering them- 

 selves with jjipe-clay or white mud — a ring of it around the 

 women's faces in addition — and as often as not besmearing their 

 bodies with the oily exudation from the corpse : whenever the 

 latter custom is practised, they must not wash themselves until 

 the stench has entirely disappeared, which it sometimes takes 

 upwards of a couple of months to do.*' In between the wailing 

 and the crying, they will moan somewhat as follows " Oh, 

 Brother (etc., as the case may be), how we used to go hunting the 

 kangaroo," "how we used to" do this or that, recalling some 

 familiar episode or adventure in connection with the deceased, 

 " and now you liave left me behind! " The bod}' is at length 

 buried during any time of tlie day, the place of burial being 

 immaterial so long as it is away from the camping ground and 

 remote froin any particularly plentiful patch of food, Ix'cause any 

 such place of burial, and anytliing growing on it is ' Uihu ' to the 

 women, not however to the men. Tlie hole which is dug is about 

 tlnee by one-and-a-half feet at the surface, w])ere it forms an oval, 

 and about three feet in depth where it is larger l)y lieing made 

 circular. While still wrapped in its bark-sheet, the corpse is 

 doubled up both at the thighs and at the knees, coAerings and all, 

 so that the knees are in close apposition to the face, and the 

 whole tilted in towards one or tlie other side : if the deeeased 

 has died away from his home he is placed in a position facing it, 

 otherwise lie is made to look towards the east. The grave is 

 then tilled up with earth, and sometimes a vertical l)laze or cut 

 of indeterminate shape is incised in the neighbouring trees. 



When an aboi-iginal who has had plenty of friends or who has 

 made a name for liimself, at last closes his eyes in death, there is 

 a greater amount of mourning, and steps ai-e taken to dis(-over 

 the nnu'derei' wlio dcjomed him, then to inniish him. Having 

 been wrapped in bark, the corpse is laid in a trench not more 

 than a foot deep, and covered with earth, wliile at the same time 

 an ordiiuiry black's hut is built ovei- the site : in this hut, the 

 chief moui'ners have to temporarily reside and hence its size will 

 depend upon the number of peoi)le it has to accomodate. Wlien 

 all his friends, relatives, and other \isitors have at last been 



■■•^ Note tluit on tlic I'eiiii('t;illicr I\i\<T tlic vital |iriiiri|)l(' iiiiix iic (■(iiincctcd 

 widi llie f-ciisc c.f Miicll ( Mull. .') .Soft. (i.S). 



