20 Lower Murray Aborigines. 



They are a very short-lived people, being old and grey at 

 twenty-five or thirty. Very few of the women live so long, 

 being generally worn out by disease and drudgery before 

 they have even arrived at the former of these ages. 



The sick are very carefully attended, more especially the 

 males, who having no contagious diseases, their friends have 

 no fear of contracting sickness from contact with them. They 

 practice bleeding very largely, upon the cupping system, for 

 many of their distempers. Their method is this : they scarify 

 the part from which they wish to take the blood, and suck 

 the place, until they have taken what they think sufficient. 

 This practice is very effectual in the removal of headaches, 

 from which they suffer very much. 



For pulmonary affections and rheumatism, they make use 

 of the vapour baths. This they construct after the fashion 

 of their ovens, and the patient is walled up much in the 

 same manner as a joint about to be cooked. They receive 

 great benefit from this system, but only make use of it in 

 extreme cases, as it takes a great deal of trouble and toil to 

 prepare it. 



They wrap their dead in rugs, and bury them four or 

 five feet deep, in every instance with the feet to the east ; all 

 the clothes and property of the deceased are buried with him. 



If a person of weight or consideration in the tribe, they 

 build a neat hut over his grave, and cover it with bark or 

 thatch, and strew the grave, or floor of the hut, with grass 

 from time to time. The grave is enclosed by a fence formed 

 in a diamond shape, the grave being in the very middle. 

 Inside of the fence they keep quite free from weeds, and 

 have it swept perfectly clean. This they continue for about 

 two years. After that time the tomb is allowed to fall into 

 decay, until in the course of a few years the very site of it is 

 forgotten. 



If a woman, or person of little note dies, they merely cover 

 them up in some soft sandhill out of their sight, and there is 

 no more about them. Their dogs often scratch them up, 

 and feast upon the bodies. Of this the natives only make 

 fun, deeming it a fine subject upon which to display 

 their wit. 



After a person dies, his name is never mentioned by any 

 chance. If they wish to speak of him at all, which is very 

 rare indeed, they do so by saying such a one (a cousin of 

 the deceased perhaps), is a " poor fellow ;" more than this 

 they cannot be got to say on the subject. 



