from a friendly visit to another tribe, when they feel inclined 

 to be jolly, when preparing for fighting with another tribe, 

 when portion of a tribe are about to start on some expedition 

 and when they return, and on many other occasions either of 

 friendly or hostile nature. Sometimes these corrobories last 

 all night, and on mostly all occasions the men paint themselves. 

 At corrobories in honour of the dead, men and women paint 

 themselves red, white, and yellow ; on all other occasions 

 any colour they fancy, which sometimes takes hours to put on, 

 and covers the whole body, when they very much resemble in 

 appearance the clowns in circuses. Corrobories of a war-like 

 nature are generally held before sundown ; for the dead, before 

 and after sundown ; and on all other occasions after sundown, 

 whether moonlight or dark, 



FUIfERALS. 



Dead children up to about the age of two years if in good 

 condition are with few exceptions not buried, but eaten ; aliove 

 that age and up to about ten years they are buried about 

 eighteen inches deep in the ground, and are never disturbed. 

 After the body is buried all natives in camp blacken them- 

 selves with charcoal, and squat down around a heap of yams 

 prepared for the occasion, which are eaten by all present ; 

 after which, if deceased is considered to have been a good boy or 

 girl, they corroborie till sundown. On the next day a short pole 

 about three feet long and six inches thick is put in the ground 

 close to the camp, and painted red, white, and yellow. The 

 natives then paint themselves of the same colours, and in the 

 evening corroborie again for a short time ; and next day the 

 camp is deserted — unless it is an old favourite camping place — 

 and locate themselves some short distance away. The painted 

 pole is left in the ground. When young grown-up people die 

 they are rolled up in bark perforated with pointed sticks or 

 leaves to allow the liquid to run through. A corroborie 

 is held, and the body is taken to some chosen tree and put 

 up in the branches, on which bark is laid for the body 

 to rest upon. On this the body is placed, and covered over 

 with bark. They then return to camp and corroborie again ; 

 after which a pole, similar to the one put up for children, is 

 planted in the ground and painted as before mentioned, and 

 the natives paint themselves the same colours — red, white, and 

 yellow — and corroborie for three successive nights ; after 

 which the camp is deserted, and a new one formed some dis- 

 tance away. When old people die the body is left on the 

 ground till decomposition has well set in, when the body is 

 buried in a shallow grave ; up to this time corrobories are 

 held night and morning. After the body is buried corrobories 



