OP van diemen's land. 167 



they had had fires, about which the shells of mutton-fish, 

 oysters, mussels, crayfish, limpets, and periwinkles were 

 scattered. Near Wellington Head there were the 

 remains of some boats, formed of strips of the swamp 

 tea-tree of Macquarie Harbour (Melaleuca decussata). 

 We learned from the pilot (Mr. Lucas) that, about three 

 months ago, he saw five of these, containing three or four 

 persons each, inclusive of children, cross the Harbour 

 from the northern shore. Each of them was drawn 

 across by a man swimming on each side of the boat, 

 holding it with one hand. He therefore concludes the 

 number that visit that neighbourhood to be from twenty 

 to thirty. He says they are shy, but have not committed 

 any outrage. They exchanged a girl of about fourteen 

 for a dog ; but the girl, not appearing to like her 

 situation, she was taken back by them, and the dog 

 returned. 



We learned from A. Cottrell some further particu- 

 lars respecting the aborigines. The Western tribes 

 appear to have been generally in the practice of burning 

 their dead. The body is placed in an upright posture on 

 logs of wood, other logs are piled around it till the 

 superstructure assumes a conical form. The pile is then 

 fired, and occasionally replenished with fuel, till the 

 remains are consumed to ashes. These are carefully 

 collected by the relatives of the deceased, and are tied 

 up in a piece of kangaroo skin, and worn about their 

 persons, not only as tokens of remembrance, but as a 

 charm against disease and accident. It is common for 

 the survivors to besmear their faces with the ashes of 

 the deceased. Those who suffer from the same com- 

 plaint of which the dead man died resort to the same 

 practice as a means of cure. It is also customary to sing 

 a dirge every morning for a considerable time after the 

 death of their friends. The chief relative takes the most 

 prominent part on these occasions ; but it is not confined 

 to relatives ; many others join in the lamentation, and 

 exhibit all the symptoms of unfeigned sorrow. Be- 

 smearing the face with the ashes of the deceased is 

 generally an accompaniment ; and tears may often be 

 seen streaming down the cheeks of the mourners. 



A singular idea prevails among the natives, that no 

 one actually dies till the sun sets. If the parties are 

 dead in point of fact, the survivors profess to regard the 



