NORTH (;ri;K\SL.\Nl> ICTIIXOCiKAPIIV — KOTII. 3S9 



At iutiTvals tliey go to \ie\v tlic corpse, and "kiss"' it witli a 

 blowing sound on tlio foreliead or cheek. The body is usually 

 carried from the hut to its ultimate destination ou a man's head, 

 iind tlie hut subsequently burnt or otherwise destroyed ; it may 

 however be slung lengthwise on a pole and so borne between two 

 men. The place of burial or cremation is never out in the open 

 plain, always in some shady spot on the edge of the ri\'er-bank or 

 dense serul). Tiiere would ajjpear to be no special burial ornaments, 

 though as signs of love and affection in order to keep the deceased 

 in reintMiib ranee ■^''— not necessarily l)y implication as signs nf 

 mourning —there are a few facts to be noted. Thus, after any 

 cremation, the female relatives, generally the neices on either side, 

 look out for the teeth and wear them after the manner of a fore- 

 head fringe, each tooth attached by a blob of wax to tufts of the 

 frontal hair. If a child dies at or soon after birth, the navel- 

 string is cut oft' and worn as a necklace by the mother.'' 



With ground-burial, the body, having been tied up in position 

 as ab-eady described, is ready for the grave. Tliis may be shallow 

 and lonuitudinal, or vertical and deej) : in the former ca,se, the 

 corpse is always laid on its side, with the head in any direction, 

 whereas in the latter it is put down feet first, / *'. in a sitting 

 posture, the whole being then filled in witli earth and built up a 

 bit, with bushes and grass placed on top. The bones, whether of 

 males or females, may subseciuently be removed from these graves, 

 painted with red ochre and so carried about in the dilly-bag by 

 the frienfls and relatives who every now and again may b? seen 

 crying and wailing over them. Thus in one of the local camps I 

 ob.ser\ed three or four i)eopIe sijuatting in a circle and wailing 

 over the bonas lying in their midst, talking as it were tn th ^ skull 

 strung on a twine which was handed in turn from ojie to thf other : 

 they expressed themselves somewhat as follows— " How we miss 

 you I", " We used often to limit together," " We remember when 

 Koi '^ went away,' etc. 



Cremation is acco!ii[)aiiic(l with ciMciuoiiial only when the social 

 status of the decease-d warrants it. With any ordinaiy mortal 

 the body in the tied position is cari'ied on the bearer's head and 

 thrown ou to a specia'ly pi-epared pvre, from out of the ashes of 



■■^" This is tlie neal•e^it trauf^latioii that could be made of tlic seiitiiiiciit wliic-li 



tlie natives tliem!?elves (lescrihcd to nie. 

 •■'1 111 tlie Atlierton Scrub, T Ikim' seen a iiiotlier tbiis wearing the heart ot her 



dead infant. 

 -^ BiilL 5 -Seet. (55. 



