Page:History of West Australia.djvu/43

 Rh or lines, apparently ornaments or written characters. In front of the wall whence this painting glared weirdly down on the astonished Grey and his companions was a slab or seat which one of the explorers jocosely sat upon. To the surprise of everyone, his head touched the roof of the cave, which on examining was found to be polished and greasy as if a native head had often touched it. It suggested that some native doctor or wise man was wont to ensconce himself on this seat, and as his figure was brought into fantastic relief by the huge painting the diseased or superstitious visited his shrine and received attendance from the Australian Delphic oracle. In the York district drawings were found in a cave, but showed less skill than those in the north. Grey tried to collect the traditions relating to the latter drawings, but beyond learning from nearly every native that originally the "moon, who was a man," lived there, he could elucidate nothing. The explanations differed at every relation, and the number of marvels and wonders narrated was in exact proportion to the quantity of food Grey promised each native. Captain Flinders and Mr. A. Cunningham, the scientist to Lieutenant King's expedition, saw paintings and drawings in Northern Australia which had been executed by natives, representing porpoises, turtles, kangaroos, water-gourds, canoes, sharks, lizards, clubs, and the human hand.

The colours used in these paintings are generally easily obtained over large areas of Australia. Red earthy pebbles, yellow clays, finely powdered charcoal, and greasy kinds of white pipe-clay are used by the native artist, while the blue colour is probably obtained from the seed vessel of a plant yielding a brilliant blue liquid. A resinous gum is mixed with the colours, which renders them capable of resisting atmospheric influences and decay. Most of the representations appeared of a great age. In some localities the natives paint pieces of bark on the huts in primitive designs, and an aptitude for carving is general among them. Even in native prisons rude drawings are scratched or impressed with charcoal on the walls, but the conceptions are not more elevated than those of the ordinary European schoolboy.

The passionate and grim sides of native character are shown in those last scenes of all life—death and the grave. Wailing and weeping and demonstrative sorrow are unbounded for a few days, and then their stoicism asserts itself. The females exhibit the most anguish. Between death and the grave their most interesting customs and laws are exhibited. By the native reasoning human life could extend to eternity were it not for fatal frays, accidents, and sorcerers. Death from natural causes is impossible, and when no other cause can be found the cruel, heartless Boylya Gadak is blamed. They are not afraid of punishment after death, and therefore the dying man is often less downcast than the onlookers. Life is good, life is for laughter and song and hunting and eating and having wives, but when death comes the absence of fear of the after-death helps them to meet the inevitable calmly. So firm is their belief in the witchcraft of sorcerers, who come in the air at night and consume the body, that when a native is certain he has received a nocturnal visitation, and is in the power of the supernatural Boylya Gadak, he will pine away till he dies. This has been often demonstrated in different parts of Western Australia. As a rule, if he escapes the law of an "eye for an eye," &c., he lives to a sere old age, and natives 60, 70, and 80 years old are often met. The Nickol Bay tribe, according to the Hon. A. R. Richardson, are taught by their doctors or sorcerers that grey hairs come as a penalty for eating forbidden fruit. Suicide is quite unknown.

When death grips the native he lies listless, helpless, hopeless. No dim gleams of sunshine illuminate the future, no faith buoys up his dying hours. He lies back on the green sward with the bright heavens above him and around him. The wind rustles the leaves of the trees, and soughs in a ceaseless moan. The kangaroo and the opossum need fear him no longer. Leaning over his inert body is his mother, or his wives are there; the children are gathered round, and the men stand back and gloomily wait. He complains of pain, and indistinctly mutters as stray recollections of his recent active life pass through his mind. When he bounded after the kangaroo or lazily rested under the trees, he feared the dreaded power of the sorcerer, but now he feels his time has come he is resigned. So hour after hour passes, and perhaps for days the sound body refuses to resign itself to mortality. Then he gasps and dies. The women throw themselves over his body, and give way to uncontrollable grief. The air is burdened with their loud weeping and dismal ejaculations; the children following their mother's example cry loudly, but the men look mournfully and enquiringly at each other, and wonder which tribe's sorcerer is answerable for the death of their companion.

The funeral ceremony takes place soon after the death. It is then that so many native customs are followed until it is discovered upon what tribe the fatal stroke of revenge shall fall. The whole tribe attend the burial, and at this final act unspeakably plaintive and even musical dirges are sung. So mournful are these that the white listener is thrilled to the very soul, and the black children give way to involuntary tears. The dark, naked people carry their dead comrade to the appointed place, amid tears and dirges, and lay him on the ground. While some wail and chant and cry bitterly, others proceed to dig the grave with the digging-stick and the hands. The sorcerer of the tribe searchingly watches the tossed up sand, and if by chance a worm is moved from its earthy home he keenly observes the direction in which it crawls, for there, possibly, the hated sorcerer lives. The previous grief of the women was as nothing to what now follows. They show the most passionate regret, shriek shrilly, and with their nails or with sharp bones, lacerate and tear the flesh of head and cheeks and nose until the warm red blood trickles down over their dark bodies. In some tribes all the company gash their thighs and cry "I have brought blood," which they sprinkle on the moved earth, and then wiping the wounds with wisps of leaves throw the latter, bloody as they are, on the dead man. After laborious work the grave is dug, and to confirm the message of the worm a fire is lit in the hole, and roars fiercely from its depths. The sorcerer kneels down, and with thoughtful demeanour learns from the fire whether revenge must fall north, south, east, or west. Perhaps not even yet satisfied, he places his ear to the ground, and strangely detects the direction, and, pointing there, all the men immediately become restless and alert. The body is placed in the grave and covered with soft brushwood. Logs are piled on top of this to a considerable height. Some tribes erect over the logs a hut facing the rising sun, and, so writes Grey, enter the apartment and exclaim "Mya balung einya ngin-na"—"I sit in his house." Finally they retire in the opposite direction from which they came, to mislead the disembodied spirit.

The ceremonies and customs of burial differ widely in the various tribes. Some remove the thumb nail of the right hand by applying a burning stick, and thumb and forefinger are tied together crossways so that the spirit cannot throw the spear. The head of the spear is taken off, and with the knife, hatchet,