118 FUNERAL UIRGE. [CH. V. 



least so it sounded to me under the circumstances, and so it 

 really proved to be, as I afterwards ascertained. 



Men's voices were also heard, as we proceeded quietly to 

 our old ground, and I could not help regretting that after 

 having given the natives on the Gwydir the slip, and seen 

 no others the whole day, we should again find the very spot, 

 on which we were to pass the night, pre-occupied by natives- 

 Our party set up their tents, and the song ceased, but I pro- 

 ceeded with Mr. White towards the place whence the voices 

 came. We there saw several persons amid smoke, and ap- 

 parently regardless of our presence ; indeed, their apathy, 

 as compared with the active vigilance of the natives in gene- 

 ral, was surprising. A young man continued to beat out a skin 

 against a tree without caring to look at us, and as they made 

 no advance, we did not go up to them. Mr. White, on 

 visiting their fires, however, at ten p.m. found that they had 

 decamped. 



All this seemed rather mysterious, until the nature of the 

 song, 1 had heard, was explained to me afterwards at Sydney, 

 by the bushranger, when I visited him in the hulk on my 

 return. He then imitated the notes, and informed me, that 

 they were sung by females when mourning for the dead ; 

 and he added, that on such occasions, it was usual for tlie 

 relatives of the deceased, to seem inattentive or insensible to 

 whatever people might be doing around them.* 



• This custom is not peculiar to Australia, it prevailed also in the East — 

 " A melancholy choir attend around, 



With plaintive sighs, and music's solemn sound : 



Alternately they sing, alternate flow 



Th' obedient tears, melodious in their woe." 



Popes Iliad, Book XXIV. v. DOO. 

 Tlie note here is, " This was a custom generally received, and which passed 

 from the Ilchrews to the Greeks, Romans, and Asiatics. There were weepers 

 by profession, of both sexes, who sung doleful tunes round the dead." 



II armor, Vol. ill. p. ;31. 

 It is admitted by ail that this last practice obtained, and the following pas- 

 sages arc proofs of it. Jei. ix. 17,18. " Call for the vtourniiKj^ivoinen that 



