Page:The Aborigines of Victoria and Riverina.djvu/44

39 sticks the length of the grave are arranged; then bark, or a good thick covering of grass, hides the body from view, and prevents the earth (which is now filled in) from coming in contact therewith. When all this is properly completed, the relatives of the deceased fling themselves prone upon the grave—howling, tearing their hair out by handfuls, and rubbing earth in quantity over their heads and bodies; ripping up the unhealed ulcers in the most loathsome fashion, until with blood and grime they become a hideous and ghastly spectacle. There is about an hour of this performance before the ceremony comes to an end. After it is finished, the mourners trudge back to the camp in twos and threes. On their arrival there, they sit down silently and stolidly for perhaps an hour more, after which they seem again to wake up into life; their grief thenceforth is forgotten (unless at the morning and evening intervals of mourning), although the self-inflicted sores remain long unhealed, and should, consequently, have the effect of keeping their bereavement fresh and green in their memories.

Should the person buried have been esteemed of consideration in the tribe prior to death, a neat hut is erected over the grave; the covering thereof being generally thatch, made of a hard knotty grass, having many joints, therefore probably akin to Polygonum. This thatch is firmly secured to the frame by means of cord, many hundred yards of which are used in the process. Upon some occasions a net is made, having meshes four inches square, with which the whole hut is securely enveloped.

These mausoleums cover the graves entirely; they are five feet high, and are of an oval shape. A small opening