BURIAL CEREMONIES. 149 



like most other eavag-es, recover in a most surprising 

 manner from wounds and other injuries which would 

 probably prove fatal to an European. The chief 

 complaint to which they are subject is a mild form 

 of ophthalmia, with which I once saw three-fourths of 

 the natives about the settlement affected in one 

 or both eyes 5 they themselves attributed this 

 affection to the lurgala, or cashew-nut, then in 

 season, the acrid oil in the husk of which had 

 reached their eyes. 



On the death of any one of the natives, the 

 relatives give utterance to their grief in loud cries, 

 sobs, and shrieks, continued to exhaustion. Some 

 cut their bodies and tear their hair, and the women 

 paint their faces with broad white bands. The bod} 

 is watched by night, and the appearance of the first 

 falHng star is hailed with loud shouts and waving of 

 fire-brands, to drive off the yvmburbar, an evil spirit 

 which is the cause of all deaths and other calamities, 

 and feeds on the entrails of the newly dead. When 

 decomposition has gone on sufficiently far, the bones 

 are carefully removed, painted red, wrapped up in 

 bark, and carried about with the tribe for some 

 time ; after which they are finally deposited, either 

 in a hoUow tree or a shallow grave, over which a low 

 mound of earth and stones is raised, occasionally 

 ornamented with posts at the corners. I was 

 unable to find out what cii'cumstances determine the 

 mode of burial in each case ; neither differences of 

 sex, age, or class are sufficient, as several nati\'es 



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