40 A NATIVE BURIAL GROUND, 



-common, lying scattered about among the bigger 

 stones. 



Though no bones were found, I have not the 

 sHghtest doubt that this place has been used as a re- 

 gular burial ground by the Aborigines. There is no 

 agency to which we could attribute t'he heaping up of 

 a number of little mounds of earth in wliich large stones 

 are embedded but to human beings. It is not very 

 probable 'that these mounds represented fireplaces ; if so, 

 why should the whitish clay be invariably covered 

 under a layer of red loam, in whidh rather heavy stones 

 are embedded ? The only way to account for these little 

 mounds is to assume that they are graves of Aborigines, 

 and, if this be so, they must be of great age. There is 

 no doubt that these graves were some time ago covered 

 by a deposit of blown sand, measuring not less than 

 four feet in thickness, and in that way perfectly con- 

 cealed. They became only exposed W'hen the sand, in- 

 stead of being deposited, was again blown away. Both 

 the covering and the blowing out must have taken some 

 time, and we know nothing about the length of the in- 

 terval between, which may have amounted to a consider- 

 able number of years. It is therefore hardly surprising 

 that no bones were found. The larger fragments had 

 been taken away by the relatives ; the smaller frag- 

 ments, already much calcined by the fire, soon disinte- 

 grated into dust, and in coure of time the ashes turned 

 into a whitish clay. 



The numbei's of mounds exposed proves that this 

 place was regularly used for the disposal of dead bodies, 

 and this proves Braim's statement as to the existence 

 of regular burial grounds to be correct. 



We may assume that not too far from the regular 

 camping grounds a spot commanding a good view was 

 selected for depositing the remains of the dead, but it 

 still remains an open question whether they carried the 

 corpses to such places in order to burn them there, or 

 whether they cremated on the place of death, and car- 

 ried the ashes to the regular burial ground, where they 

 were interred in the manner descril^ed by Peron. 



Braim's statement, above referred to, seems to indi- 

 'Cate that the bodies were carried to the burial ground ; 



