Page:Australian race - vol 1.djvu/391

330 however, the thigh bones of the animal are invariably bent back and broken; frogs are treated in the same manner before cooking, this being apparently a superstitious observance which is never neglected.

Respecting marriage, Mr. Knight says that these tribes are endogamous, that polygamy is not very prevalent, that girls are promised in marriage soon after birth and become wives at about twelve years of age.

The men scar the skin by way of ornament. They also pierce the septum of the nose, but do not knock out teeth. When mourning for the dead, they scratch deeply with the finger-nails the skin of the cheek, nose, chin, and forehead. Fishing is carried on with the spear, nets being unknown, another instance of inferiority in these tribes. The men are said to be about five feet eight inches in height, on an average, and the women five inches less.

As regards burials, the nearest place is used at which a hole can be easily dug with a pointed stick and the hands. It is generally between four and five feet in depth. The limbs of the corpse are securely tied together with bands of rushes or bark, so as, if possible, to hinder it from getting out of the grave and wandering about in the shape of a ghost, of which the Australian Black, in all parts, is perpetually apprehensive. Wood and brush are then thrown into the grave, and set fire to, so as just to singe the hair off the body, after which the earth is thrown in as quickly as possible. But, though reasonable care is thus taken to hinder the spirits of the departed from visiting theit friends at night, that apprehension to which the Perth tribes are subject in common with all other races, black, white, and yellow, with which I am acquainted, is not entirely quieted, and the measures described are supplemented by making a small bundle of leaves and sticks, which one of the women carries with her for two or three months, and places every night near a fire made apart for the purpose. Bundles of this sort, it is believed, are very attractive to ghosts, and generally detain them from coming to the huts of their