300 THE NATIVE BLACKFELLOW 



of the interior, the corpse is wrapped in cloaks and 

 enclosed in a bundle of sticks, and placed on a platform 

 high up in a tree ; and the place where the tree stands is 

 avoided by the tribe, and jealously guarded from approach 

 by others. When the corpse begins to decay, it is often 

 torn open by birds of prey, which feast on it ; and these are 

 not interfered with, but are permitted to consume the flesh 

 of the deceased. 



Very generally throughout South Australia, including 

 parts of New South Wales and Western Australia, the 

 dead are buried in a sitting posture in the middle of a 

 large round hole, which may be as much as ten or 

 twelve feet in diameter, though never very deep. The 

 deceased's weapons, property, and some food, are placed 

 beside him, and the whole buried under a heap of loose 

 sand or soil. The grave is never afterwards visited. 

 Women and children are disposed of with little ceremony. 

 The special belongings of a gin (or wife) may be placed in 

 the grave beside her. The bones of very young children 

 are often cleaned of flesh, and carried about, as I have 

 already remarked, by the mother, often in her net-bag, 

 mixed up with the family belongings. 



Cannibalism is quite unknown among the Australian 

 blacks, which is remarkable, considering that in many 

 parts of the continent there is sometimes such a paucity of 

 food that the people subsist with difficulty. 



