24 AUSTRALIA AND THE AUSTRALIANS. 



Considerable preparations are made. Emus' and 

 swans' eggs, opossums, kangaroos, and wild fowls are 

 cooked. The bride is adorned with an opossum rug ; 

 emu feathers are about her loins. Her hair is braided 

 and bound about with a brow-band of plaited bark. 

 The bridegroom is similarly adorned. Both are 

 painted with white streaks over and under their 

 eyes. In some tribes he is attended by two or three 

 bachelors, who lead him to his bride, who receives him 

 with downcast eyes. He then declares that he receives 

 her as his wife, and feasting begins. 



In other tribes, I find, the father leads the woman 

 to the hut of her intended husband, and she kindles a 

 fire for him, which completes the ceremony. 



There is a custom which prevails throughout all the 

 tribes, which would, perhaps, be an advantage if 

 practised by some persons in civilized countries. The 

 mother-in-law cannot, under any circumstances, speak 

 to her daughter's husband, not even if he were dying. 

 " When a girl has been promised to a man in marriage, 

 or when he is married, the man and the mother of his 

 wife, or betrothed, scrupulously avoid each other." 



The Rev. E. Fuller, missionary at Eraser's Island, 

 says, in an account he gives of his mission : 



" The mother-in-law must not look upon her son-in- 

 law at any time ; they believe that if she did he would 



