254 AUSTRALIAN SHAMROCK. [CH. VI. 



Beside them were, in some cases, casts also in lime or 

 gypsum, which had evidently been taken from a head, the 

 hair of which had been confined by a net, as the impression 

 of it, and some hairs, remained inside. A native explained 

 one day to Mr. Larmer, in a very simple manner, the mean- 

 ing of the white balls, by taking a small piece of wood, lay- 

 ing it in the ground, and covering it with earth ; then laying 

 his head on one side and closing his eyes, he showed that a 

 dead body was laid in that position in the earth, where these 

 balls were placed above.* On crossing the channel of the 

 tributary, which we had followed, 1 found its bed broad, ex- 

 tensive, and moist, and in it two small ponds containing the 

 first water, besides that of the Darling, seen by the party, in 

 tracing the course of this river nearly 200 miles. The rich 

 soil in the dry bed was here beautifully verdant with the 

 same fragrant trefoil, which I saw on the 4th of June in 

 crossing a lagoon, the bed of which was of the same de- 

 scription of soil. The perfume of this herb, its freshness and 

 flavour, induced me to try it as a vegetable, and we found it 

 to be delicious, tender as spinach, and to preserve a very 

 green colour when boiled. This was certainly the most in- 

 teresting plant hitherto discovered by us; for independently 

 of its culinary utility, it is quite a new form of Australian 

 vegetation, resembling, in a striking manner, that of the south 



into which they put the corpse, and cover it with earth, and a number of great 

 stones, lest the wild beasts should get at the body." — Voy. dans la Palestine, 

 ch. 23. See also 2 Kings xxiii. 10. — 1 Kings xiii. 2. and Isaiah xxii. 15—17. 



• A singular coincidence with the ancient customs of Israel. " The .Tews 

 used to mark their graves with wliite lime that they niight be known, that so 

 priests, Nazarites, and travellers might avoid them, and not l)e polluted. They 

 also marked their graves with white lime, and so also in their intermediate 

 feast-days. They made use of chalk, because it looked white like bones." — 

 Ihirdar's Oriental Customs, vol. ii. page 232. 



it may be also remarked that a superstitious custom prevailed amongst the 

 Gentiles in mourning for the dead. They cut off their hair, and that round 

 about, and threw it into tlie sepulchre with the Imdics of their relatives and 

 friends ; and sometimes laid it ni)on the face or the breast of the dead, as an 

 offering to the infernal gods, whereby tlioy tlioiight to appease them, and make 

 them kind to the deceased. See Ma'nnanidcs de Idol. c. .\ii. 1. 2. 5. 



