316 



MATHEWS— SOME BURIAL CUSTOMS 



[May 21, 



Thomas's Staff] in a very simple manner the meaning of the white balls, by 

 taking a small piece of wood, laying 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.^ 



In 1901, Mr. G. Officer, of Kallara Station, described some kopai 

 balls or cakes found at a grave on Curronyalpa run on the Darling 

 River, about fifteen miles above Tilpa. There were thirty-nine 

 specimens at the grave, some of which were lying on the surface, 

 others were partially revealed, and the remainder were found by 

 digging a little way into the sandy soil underneath. 



Fig. 5 is an exterior view of a kurno or widow's cap, a being the front, 

 or part fitting over the forehead, whilst b represents the back of the head. 



Owing to the unusually large number of pieces on this grave, I 

 am inclined to believe that the greater portion of them had been car- ' 

 ried from other graves in the neighborhood to this spot and hidden, 

 for the purpose of protecting them from the vandalism of the white 

 men, who were in the habit of carrying them away as curios. Mr. 

 Higgins, a long resident of the Darling region, writes me that two 

 old blackfellows had stated to him that, when the natives observed 

 that the white people desecrated their burying places in this way, 

 they themselves buried the kopai balls in the ground to keep them 



= " Three Expeditions into Eastern Australia" (London, 1838), Vol. L, 

 pp. 253-4. Seven kopai balls are illustrated in the woodcut referred to. 



