XOiail QUEENSLAND ETHNOGRAPHY ROTH. 403 



The mourning was either relative to mutilations or tu decora- 

 tions. Men, old and young, jabbed their heads with points of 

 tlie spears or with tomahawks until the blood flowed : the older 

 men were always keener on this. Similarly, the old women 

 banged and cut their heads with the digging-sticks : the young- 

 ones would cut the whole front of tlie thighs in parallel lines of 

 small incisions with pieces of broken flint or sharp shell. 



Red was the essential colour of mourning. In the case of the 

 old men, the entire back, front, limbs and face were co^•ered with 

 this, relieved here and there with a sj^lash of pipe-clay, but none 

 on the face. The old women were similarly painted, but with 

 more splashes of white which was also specially dabbed on the 

 face. Feathers (swan's, etc.) tied up into bunches and covered 

 with raddle, were fixed with beeswax into the hair of old women 

 only. The immediate relatives and near friends would keep 

 these decorations on for perhaps two or three months, whereas 

 the others would drop them after a few days. The 3'oung men 

 and young women would ne^•er wear the red paint or feathei's as 

 signs of mourning. No eulogy of the deceased took place, neither 

 was his name mentioned. 



