346 
FUNERAL CEREMONIES. 
fingers are folded in the palm of the hand, and the 
fist is tied with nets, the ends of which are fastened 
about a yard from the hands ; the legs are put 
crossing each other. 
The lamentations are raised by the natives around, 
fires are made below, so that the smoke may ascend 
over the corpse, and the mourners usually remain 
encamped about the place for a great length of time, 
or until the body is thoroughly dry, after which they 
leave it. Mr. Schurman says, “ At Port Lincoln, 
after the body is put in a grave, and a little earth is 
thrown on it ; the natives place a number of sticks 
across its mouth, over which they spread grass or 
bushes to prevent the remaining earth from falling 
down, so that an empty space of about three feet in 
depth is left between the body and the top earth.” 
At the Flinders river (Gulf of Carpentaria), 
Captain Stokes observes, “ At the upper part of 
Flinders river, a corpse was found lodged in the 
branches of a tree, some twenty feet high from the 
ground ; it had three coverings, first, one of bark, 
then a net, and outside of all a layer of sticks.” 
On the Murray river, and among the contiguous 
tribes, many differences occur in the forms of burial 
adopted by the various tribes. Still-born children 
are buried immediately. Infants not weaned are 
carried about by the mother for some months, well 
wrapped up, and when thoroughly dry, are put into 
nets or bags, and deposited in the hollows of trees, 
or buried. Children and young people are buried 
