Lower Murray Aborigines. 21 



If by chance any one of the tribe to which the deceased be- 

 longed bears the same name, he immediately adopts another, 

 and his original one is forgotten. 



When they die they imagine that they become birds or 

 beasts, and inhabit the localities they used to frequent prior 

 to death. 



Their huts are merely sheds thrown up against the wind, 

 consisting of bark or reeds, if the weather be wet, and of a 

 few boughs only if fine. An assemblage of their huts might 

 be called a village, but they are erected without any refer- 

 ence to order, and according to the whim of the intending 

 occupant. 



They have no monuments in commemoration of particular 

 events, nor have they any works of art beyond their imple- 

 ments of war or chase. 



The chiefs have very limited powers ; the chieftainship 

 goes by seniority, i. e., the oldest man in the tribe is gene- 

 rally deemed the head thereof. 



They are not divided into clans, castes, or grades, but live 

 on a perfect footing of equality. 



They have no existing laws ; the strong occasionally steals 

 from the weak, and laughs at the victim if he remonstrates 

 with them. Generally, however, they are very honest 

 amongst themselves. 



They do not possess any courts of law, nor have they any 

 judges. The only trials they ever have are for murder, and 

 then the culprit has to stand up as a target to be speared at 

 for about twenty minutes. If he escape, as is usually the 

 case, he is received upon the same footing as prior to the 

 commission of the crime, and he is thought just as much of. 

 They never keep any prisoners, as no offence is deemed 

 worthy of punishment except murder, and then the ordeal 

 follows immediately on the commission of the crime. 



They have the most vague ideas of geography. They 

 imagine the earth to be one immense plain, with here and 

 there a river, creek, mountain, and hill, and that the Murray 

 is the largest, deepest, and sweetest water on it, and that it 

 has no end, and runs for ever. 



They think there is a new sun every day, and that it is a. 

 large fire, being weak in the morning when it is newly 

 kindled, and becoming hotter towards noon, as it spreads, 

 then gradually becoming less powerful towards evening, 

 until it goes out entirely when it is night. 



With regard to the moon, they think it lasts thirty nights, 



