EXTENSIVE CONFLAGRATION. 297 



conflagration on the point above continued to rage 

 with great fury ; and I have no doubt that it was 

 kindled in order to attract our attention and pre- 

 vent us from visiting this sacred spot. Though we 

 saw not the form of a living being, I am persuaded 

 that the eyes of the natives were upon us, and that 

 our every movement w^as watched. The method 

 they adopted to lure us away from the neighbour- 

 hood of the dead was simple and ingenious, and 

 might have proved successful had not the interposing 

 ledge of rocks prevented our further progress. To 

 effect their purpose they must have burnt up a very 

 large space, as the smoke that arose obscured all that 

 quarter of the heavens. We observed also that the 

 ground about the burial tree had been submitted to 

 the flames, as if to keep away the few kangaroos 

 that visit this spot. 



This singular mode of disposing of the dead among 

 the aborigines of Australia, extends to the banks of 

 the Murray River, on the south coast, as we learn 

 from Mr. Eyre's vivid narrative; and as we know 

 that it exists in New Guinea, we may fairly infer 

 that so far we can trace the migration of the popu- 

 lation of the fifth division of the globe.* 



1 have always considered that Eastern and West- 

 ern Australia were originally separated by the sea ; 

 and that when they were thus separated, (which the 



* It is a curious circumstance to observe that the same cus- 

 tom prevailed among the ancient Scythians, as we learn from 

 Mr. St. John's "History of the Manners and Customs of the 

 Ancient Greeks," vol. iii. p. 345. 



