374 ON THE ABORIGINES OF THE LOWER MURRAY. 



times nothing but the eyes, ears, and mouth, remain uncovered. 

 Their burial rites I have had no opportunity to observe, but 

 always found the graves well kept, and have generally seen the 

 most romantic spots selected for the last resting place of their 

 departed. 



On the Lower Darling these sepulchres were generally made 

 in some shield-like enclosure of brush wood, shaded by drooping 

 acacias or cypress-pines, and covered with a rude hut of bark or 

 brush wood, into which for a long period afterwards casual 

 passers-by friends of the lost one implant a green bough, so 

 that by the number of these boughs one may judge in what 

 estimation the poor creature was held who rested beneath. Their 

 strong belief that they will re-appear as white men, is well 

 known, as also the desire to see a certain likeness in white men 

 with one or another of their lost friends. The way in which they 

 try to find out in which direction to take vengeance for a deceased 

 member is singular. After the sand has been smoothed around 

 the grave and the brush enclosure is formed, they leave the ground, 

 returning from time to time until by some insect or other accidental 

 cause the smooth surface has been disturbed, and in that direction 

 retaliation is sought ; of late they are satisfied to throw a waddy 

 or a few harmless spears at the first unlucky strange black they 

 may thus encounter ; while formerly they tried to shed blood at 

 least, if not able to kill their victim. 



Before concluding I shall say a few words about their artistic 

 skill, which is confined to the embellishment of their rude 

 weapons and skin coverings ; they seldom go beyond a series of 

 straight lines at various angles, red and white being the usual 

 color to set off the pattern. They are however tolerably good 

 observers, as there is no difficulty whenever they carve the figure 

 of a fish, a bird, or a mammal, upon a sandstone rock, or trace 

 the same on a piece of blackened bark, to recognise the genus of 

 the animal thus represented. The numerous bays and inlets of 

 Port Jackson abound with such carvings, but on the Murray I 

 have never seen any thing beyond a few tracings on sheets of 

 blackened bark, probably done during a rainy day. 



