284 SINGULAR CUSTOM. 



picturesque — still glassy sheets of water stretch 

 between steep banks clothed with rich vegetation 

 down to the very edge of the stream ; — the branches 

 of the trees droop over the smooth surface, and are 

 vividly reflected ; and substance is so perfectly 

 blended with shadow, that it is impossible to detect 

 where they unite. 



At the western extremity of Melbourne is a low 

 round hill, fifty-seven feet above the level of the sea 

 by our observations, and about thirty above the 

 town. There are now none of the aborigines in the 

 neighbourhood of Melbourne ; but I learned that 

 some of their old men remember the time when the 

 site of the town was under water, in consequence of 

 one of those sudden inundations that happen in 

 Australia, and are so much in keeping with the 

 other strange things that occur there. Having 

 alluded to the natives, I may here mention a sin- 

 gular custom that came under notice some time 

 after, at the Protectorate in the valley of the Loddon, 

 in the vicinity of Melbourne. Several women were 

 observed having their faces completely concealed by 

 their opossum skin mantles. Not satisfied with 

 this moreover, in passing a party of men, they 

 moved in a sidelong manner, so as to render it im- 

 possible, even if the covering came to be displaced, 

 that their faces should be seen. In the evening at 

 the Corobbery, these persons, three in number, 

 were seated in the circle of women, so as to have 

 their backs turned to the dancers or actors, their 

 faces still being wholly concealed. They remained 



