The Euahlayi Tribe: A Study of Aboriginal Life in Australia

orning on the statio

volume until it reached the full height or limit of the human voice, when gradually, as

row. Then came consciousness. It was from the blacks' camp, and must mean death. B

shade she had spent so many hours, telling me legends of the golden age when man, birds, beasts, trees, and elements spoke a common language. But the

the camp for days, they said, watching to seize her fleeting spirit-a sure sign the end was near. That nig

dreamt of an emu, which meant misfortune

if it were a living thing. Round it whirled, snatching the dead leaves of the Coolabahs, swirling them with the dust it gathered into a spiral column, w

Beemunny, who was past heedi

he swirling leaves as the column gathered them. Finding the deathbed guarded, the boolee turned s

ve a sigh

were verified; B

es of youth cling to one; how we

Her hair was thick and fuzzy, when combed would stand nearly straight out, which is quite unusual with the native women's hair in that part. Beemunny one day asked o

went out to her in sympathy. She was old, she was

ever passed her without saying 'Gubbah Tekkul!' 'Beau

plex totems of the deceased, crooned in a wailing way, and each fresh person who comes to the camp sings this

to go to the funeral, o

e her own blankets to be buried with her. The coffin was made of bark cut off right round a tree, split on one side from end to end; the body was placed in this, then the bark lapped over it, the ends were blocked up wi

arge of the coffin and the two nearest women relations, immediately behind them the old women, then th

a, or pebbly ridge, pine-trees overarching in places carving the sky in

e each time. I asked Bootha what it was. She told me it was the note of a little bird, something like a wren, called Durrooee, in whose shape the spirits of dead women revisited the earth. It seems that Numbardee, th

lege if they had done their duty in life. These birds are sacred; no one must harm them, nor even imitate their cry. It would be hard to hurt them, for the spirit in them is so strong. If any one even takes up a stick or stone to throw at them, hardly is it raised from the

. The blacks said it was because there was a Durrooee's nest in that tree, the spirit had knocked him down, and for a time

st dig the grave. The coffin was put down beside the grave, the daughter and other nearest women relati

as we came along; these he set fire to, and made a dense smoke

s of the sacred Dheal tree, these they laid beside the grave, then sat down and broke t

standing in the grave; he placed it as a pillow at one end. Then Hippi and the daughter's husband took each an end of the coffin and lowered it into the grave; the daughter cried loudly as they did so. Over the coffin they laid a rug, and on the rug they placed Beemunny's yam stick. Hippi signalled to the daughter, who then came w

us; never as she

he once did wil

ith her gunn

m us; never as s

gain, and loudest of all the daughter

are in the cr

ies here will

h as of old

es here will b

air, she will

n the wom

the other man, in a

n will she

goes fir

o the women, t

can make

e in plenty a

beasts in the h

wigs of Dheal to the men, who laid them on the top of the coffin, then ba

nced slowly a corroboree step round the edge o

in, the daughter shrieked and swayed over as if to fall into the grave, but her friend drew her back. She called 'Mother! mother!' took a sharp stone which was beside her and hit it against her

r big smoke, thoroughly smoked himself,

omen were sitting; she called them one by one an

h meant literally a woman with a camp of her own. The old woman gave the smoke fire a

with logs and boughs

olour was that of the dark pines silhouetted against a sky from which the blue had now faded. Going home Bootha told me that the smoking process was to keep the

be gummarl-a tabooed place; but before they left it they

even said old Beemunny had been given poison in her honey by an old-time rejected lover. Well, by sweeping round the grave they would see what track was on the swept place next morning, and according to t

new, because when I first went to the station I had seen them going to funerals all decorated as if for corroborees. Round th

commended to Byamee, who would have been intreated to let the dead enter Bullimah (heaven), as he had kept the Boorah laws-that is, of course, if he had been init

d to the grave, I asked old Bootha when she thought it wou

ing that "'sposin" she can send 'em rain, she send 'im three

cloudless as they had been for weeks. In the middle of the night we were awakened by

s sends rain within a week of his d

lt sad when she saw thunderclouds, because

e the dead, being a proof to them of the affection of the living. It is funeral etiquette to prepare yourself with a

ose top towers into the sky, nearly touching Bullimah. The new spirit recognises his relations at once; they had, many of them, been round the d

dropping these twigs as he goes along, leaving thus a trail that those who follow may see. At the top of Oobi Oobi he finds the spirits called Mooroobeaig

one holding the spirit can lift him into Bullimah. As the spirit is hoisted in, one of the Mooroobeaigunnil, knocks the lowest one in the l

has entere

number of stars shoot off from a falling star, it is a sign that a man has died leaving a large famil

ke an opening in the side of the body, take out the internal parts, fill it up with Dheal leaves. They would place the rubbed

eeks, that they might easily extract the s

fore burying, but it would usually have been well smo

rom a distance might come and see for themsel

eal leaves it was put into its bark

murderer had to be discovered and stand his trial. He was given a shield to defend himself with. Every man had a right to throw a weapon at him; should he manage to defend himself successfully, as far as that crime was concerned he would be henceforth a free man, no stigma attaching to him whatever. In which, I fancy,

er could be stand round the coffin. A head man says to the corpse, 'Did such and such a man harm you?' naming,

as to stan

neighbourhood or its late camp until the body is buried. Mysterious lights are said to b

ometimes placed in hollow trees. I know of skeletons in trees on the edge of the ridge on which the h

id. In some places corpses are tied up in a sitting posture. The tying, they say,

nd also, when a widow's term of mourning was over, she would take the widow's cap-which was a

, but so thinly that it cakes off. They renew it, and keep their heads covered w

are very old; for hair nets have been out of fashion for v

she grew up she'd choose to be a widow, woul

s, who might have been her husband's wives, down to the creek. The widow catches hold of the smoking bush, puts it under her arm, and jumps into the middle of the creek; as the smoking bush is going out she drinks some of

. She goes to the new camp, where another big smoke is made. She puts on her widow's cap, which, as it w

smoke and smoke the camp again. The nearest of kin to her husb

whisperings about her. She is spoken of as having a 'white heart'; an

marked by carved trees; only a few paint

ce of bark cut off and some red markings made on t

re burnt, except the sacred stones; they are left

tice of the taboo extended to

, even when he had been dead over a year. They would walk ten or twelve miles for their rat

died. She camped nearly a mile away, and I went to see her there. After he had been dead about a year, she came to see me; but before she