Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 20, 1909.djvu/113

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On p. 280 of the current volume of Folk-Lore the Rev. H. A. Junod mentions the copper rod currency of the Balemba. Two specimens of these marili are described and figured by me in Man (Aug. 1908, viii., Nos. 65-6), with an additional note by Mr. H. D. Hemsworth.

With reference to Mr. N. W. Thomas' article on "The Disposal of the Dead in Australia," may I, as one who has both lived and travelled in Western Australia, be allowed to make a few remarks concerning the death customs of the natives of that part of the Island-Continent.

Fear of the spirits of the dead is a characteristic of the West Australian aborigines, and the reason why they are so careful, in burying, to set the corpse as secure as possible, is to prevent its escape in the form of a ghost, for the spirit is supposed to be very powerful, much more so than the person was when alive.

The natives believe that the spirits of their dead parents and relations appear, and so strong is this superstition of the reappearance of the dead that it is said that, when white people first settled in Western Australia, they were taken to be the spirits of their ancestors who could not keep away from their old hunting grounds.

When a burial takes place, it is very common among them to remove the thumb nail, and tie both thumb and forefinger together crossways, so as to disable the spirit from throwing the spear. The body is also very often tied in the grave in a sitting posture.