NEW SOUTH WALES. 27 



Vion, either civilized or savage, has a ceremony 

 particularly solemn for the occasion ; whether 

 this arises from the knowledge of revealed religion 

 with the enlightened, or from the finer feelings 

 of a savage, who knows that he can enjoy no 

 future comforts, with a person jie may have been 

 accustomed to live, it is equally enti$edv to 

 our respect, for it has an almost e!|ual" effect 

 on the mind, and I am confident, lliat the heart 

 of a savage in New South Wales generally feels 

 an anguish on such occasions that would do 

 infinite credit to a polished European. 



Those who die young, are consigned to the 

 grave, but those who have paffed the middle 

 age are burnt. 



Previous to the body being either buried or 

 burnt, it is carried about in a canoe on mens* 

 shoulders, preceded by others who carry tufts 

 of grass in their hands ; the head of the corpse 

 is carried foremost, and when it paffes any hut 

 the deceased has been accustomed to frequent, 

 a child is taken up in the arms of a man and pre- 

 sented towards the corpse as a mark of respect. 

 When the body reaches the place of interment, 

 it is deposited in a grave about six inches deep, 

 strewed with grass and leaves ; on laying the 

 corpse in the grave great care is taken to place 

 it so that the sun may look at it as he passes. 

 The grave is then covered in, and boughs and 

 grass laid on the top, and over that they lay a 

 log of wood. Thus every rite performed, some 

 of the men lay an injunction on the women to 



