Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia Volume II Part 26

The next translation is that of a chant sung by an old woman to incite the men to avenge the death of a young man who died from a natural cause, but whose death she attributed to witchcraft and sorcery; the natives, who listened to her attentively, called her chanting goranween, or abusing. She stood with her legs wide apart, waving her wanna, or long digging stick in the air, and rocking her body to and fro, whilst her kangaroo-skin cloak floated behind her in the wind. She was thus quite the beau ideal of a witch. The following is the sense of the words she used, at least as nearly as it is possible to express their force and meaning in English.

The blear-eyed sorcerers of the north, Their vile enchantments sung and wove, And in the night they issued forth, A direful people-eating drove.

Feasting on our loved one, With gore-dripping teeth and tongue, The wretches sat, and gnawed, and ate, Whilst their victim soundly slept.

Yho, yang, yho yang, yang yho.

Aye--unconsciously he rested In a slumber too profound; The vile boyl-yas sat and feasted On the victim they had bound In resistless lethargy.

Mooli-go, our dear young brother, Where is another like to thee?

Tenderly loved by thy mother, We again shall never see Mooli-go, our dear young brother,

Yho, yang yho, ho, ho.

Men, who ever bold have been, Are your long spears sharpened well?

Is the keen quartz fixed anew?

Let each shaft upon them tell.

Poise your meer-ros long and true: Let the kileys whiz and whirl In strange contortions through the air; Heavy dow-uks at them hurl; Shout the yell they dread to hear.

Let the young men leap on high, To avoid the quivering spear; Light of limb, and quick of eye, Who sees well has nought to fear.

Let them s.h.i.+ft, and let them leap, When the quick spear whistling flies; Woe to him who cannot leap!

Woe to him who has bad eyes!

FEMALE ENERGY IN CHANTING.

When one of these old hags has entered upon a chant of this kind nothing but complete exhaustion induces her to stop, and the instant she pauses another takes up the burden of her song. The effect some of them produce upon the a.s.sembled men is very great; in fact these addresses of the old women are the cause of most of the disturbances which take place. The above translations, without being exactly literal, are as near the original as I could render them. As they are entirely uttered on the spur of the moment there is generally abundant evidence of pa.s.sion and feeling about them; and although I might have added a great variety, I think that the above will give the English reader as good an idea of the peculiar mode of address of this people as it is in my power to do.

CHAPTER 16. FUNERAL CEREMONIES, SUPERSt.i.tIONS, AND REMARKABLE CUSTOMS.

DEATH AND BURIAL OF A NATIVE NEAR PERTH.

Friday June 14 1839.

Yenna came to me this afternoon to tell me that Mulligo was now so ill there was but little chance of his living for many hours longer, and further to request that I would accompany him to see the sufferer. Nearly two months had elapsed since Mulligo had severely injured his spine by a fall from a tree; and immediately after the occurrence of this accident he had completely lost the use of his lower extremities, and had day by day declined until he was now reduced to a perfect skeleton. I was therefore but little surprised at the intelligence which Yenna brought me; and as I was anxious to see the ceremonies that would accompany his last moments I at once started for the native encampment.

CONTENTION FOR MULLIGO'S WIDOWS.

Mulligo was a Ngotak and had two wives, Kokoobung and Mugarwit, both of the Ballaroke family, and neither of them deficient either in youth, or in such personal charms as find favour in the eyes of the natives. I antic.i.p.ated therefore that from some quarter or the other objections would be raised to allowing Miago, the uterine brother of Mulligo (and therefore also a Ngotak) to carry off unmolested two such attractive young widows. According to native custom however they of right, upon their husband's death, became the wives of Miago.

On approaching the point where Mulligo was lying, distant about a mile from Perth, I found that my antic.i.p.ations were correct. I fell in with the encampment of the friends of a native named Bennyyowlee, of the Tdondarup family. This native had signified his intention of a.s.serting his claims to the possession of one of these young women, and even some of Miago's friends were disposed to favour him. Bennyyowlee was absent at the Canning River with a party of natives for the purpose of procuring spears, and thus preparing himself for coming events. His friends however had constructed their huts within a few hundred yards of those of Mulligo's relatives, so that in the event of the arrival of the Murraymen, who they were apprehensive would make an attempt to carry off Mulligo's wives, they might be able to a.s.sist Miago in his endeavours to prevent such an outrage, whilst at the same time their proximity to his party enabled them to see that no foul play took place.

As I pa.s.sed them they endeavoured to impress upon my mind that one wife was enough for Miago, and that if he surrendered the other to Bennyyowlee they would a.s.sist him against the Murraymen. I however resolved not to interfere in the business, and thus telling them I bent my steps to the other encampment.

DYING SCENE IN HIS TENT.

On my arrival I found poor Mulligo sinking fast; his two wives and his mother were watching by his side. He just recognised me, and faintly and slowly said, "men-d.y.k.e boola nganya" (I am very ill.) The native women near him were much alarmed because he could not swallow, and to support him were slowly dropping water into his ear. His last moment was evidently near at hand, and, after having felt his pulse and paid him a few little attentions, which always gratify them much, I turned away to examine the dispositions of the encampment.

I found that Miago's hut was close to Mulligo's, and he himself was present, ready to a.s.sert his right to the wives of his dying brother should anyone appear to dispute his claims; he was evidently well supported, for the Nagarnook family mustered strong around his hut, and the two half-brothers of one of the ladies in dispute were members of it.

Weyup, the half-brother of the other native girl, was also present, and therefore evidently favoured Miago's cause. They were all in anxious expectation of the return of Moorroongo, who had gone off with a party for the purpose of cutting spears, with which the friends of his stepson (Miago) might be able to act either offensively or defensively as circ.u.mstances should require. As I conceived that there was every possibility of Mulligo's having sufficient strength left to linger through the night, and as the evening was fast closing in, after a little casual conversation with the natives I returned home.

MOURNING WOMEN. THEIR SONGS AND CEREMONIES.

June 15.

Soon after daybreak I reached the entrance of Mulligo's hut: he was alive but his respiration was scarcely visible. His head rested on his mother's knees, and her withered b.r.e.a.s.t.s now rested on his lips as she leant crying over him; other women were seated round, their heads all verging to a common centre over the wasted frame of the dying man; they were crying bitterly and scratching their cheeks, foreheads, and noses with their nails until the blood trickled slowly from the wounds. The men in the front of the huts were busied in finis.h.i.+ng off their spears, ready for the coming fight.

I stood for some time watching the mournful scene, but other native females soon began to arrive; they came up in small parties, generally by threes, marching slowly forward with their wan-nas (a long stick they use for digging up roots) in their hands; the eldest female walked first, and when they approached within about thirty or forty yards of the hut in which the dying man lay they raised the most piteous cries, and, hurrying their pace, moved rapidly towards the point where the other women were seated, recalling the custom alluded to by Jeremiah (9:17, 18) Call for the wailing women that they may come, and let them make haste, and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and our eyelids gush out with waters.

CEREMONY ON MULLIGO'S DEATH.

As they came up to the bark hut many of them struck it violently with their wan-nas, producing by the blow a dull hollow sound; they then seated themselves in the circle, scratching their faces and joining in mournful chants, of which the one already given above was that most frequently uttered, and which, as I sat by the young men's fire, they slowly repeated to me.

The female relatives standing in the relation of mothers to Mulligo, sang:

Mam-mul, Mam-mul, My son, my son.

Those in the relation of sister, sang:

Kar-dang, kar-dang.

And the next part was sung indifferently by both of them:

Garro. Nad-joo, Meela, Nung-a-broo.

Again, I shall Not see in future.

Then one of the women, having worked herself to a pitch of frenzy, would now and then start up and, standing in front of the hut whilst she waved her wan-na violently in the air, would chant forth dire imprecations against certain boyl-yas, or magicians, or rather wizards, who she believed to be the cause of the death of poor Mulligo. Whilst thus chanting she faced and addressed her words to the men who were grouped around their huts, and it was strange to see the various effects produced on their minds by these harangues working in their savage countenances: one while they sat in mournful silence; again they grasped firmly and quivered their spears; and by-and-bye a general "Ee-Ee" (p.r.o.nounced in their throat with the lips closed) burst forth as sign of approbation at some affecting part of the speech.

Time wore on. Each withered beldame by turns addressed the party, whilst the poor wretch, the tranquillity of whose dying moments was interrupted by these scenes, gradually sank. At last the vital spark departed, and that moment an old woman started up, mad with grief and rage, tore the hut in which he had lain to atoms, saying, "this is now no good;"* and then poured forth a wild strain of imprecations against the before-mentioned boyl-yas.

(*Footnote. Burckhardt remarked a similar custom among the Bedouin Arabs.

He says: If the deceased have not left any male heir, or that the whole property is transferred to another family, or if his heir is a minor, and goes to live with his uncle or some other relative, the tent posts are torn up immediately after the man has expired, and the tent is demolished. Travels in Arabia page 58.)

As she proceeded the men became more and more excited, and at last Moondee, the most violent of them, started forward and was on the point of spearing one of Mulligo's wives; none of the men attempted to interfere with him; but, as I antic.i.p.ated, the women seized him, and held him, so as to prevent him from executing his purpose. This conduct on his part at first appeared to me to arise from pa.s.sion alone, but the reason of it was soon explained.

SUPPOSED CAUSE OF HIS DECEASE.

It appears that some two or three months before this period Weenat, a native of the upper part of the Swan, had stolen a cloak belonging to Miago, Mulligo's brother, and had, according to their belief, from malicious motives given this cloak to one of the native sorcerers, or boyl-yas, who by this means acquired some mysterious power over either Miago or his brother, but selected the latter for his victim, when he fell and broke his back. Another of these boyl-yas (according to the usual custom) was called in to give his advice, and he applied fire to the injured part. This treatment not succeeding, and the poor fellow wasting daily away, the natives became convinced that the unfriendly boyl-yas were in the habit of rendering themselves invisible, and nightly descending for the purpose of feasting on poor Mulligo's flesh whilst he slept, and being under the influence of a charm he was not aware of what was taking place; but Moondee chose to imagine that if his wife had been more vigilant the boyl-yas might have been detected, and hence intended to spear her in the leg as a punishment for her imputed neglect.

As I have before stated the women prevented this outrage from having effect, and the two trembling girls, neither of whom could have been more than fifteen, fled into Perth, to take refuge in some European's house.

The native men and women, after their departure, indulged in the most unlimited abuse of boyl-yas in general, and of the Guildford boyl-yas in particular, against whom, according to the idea of the natives, they had very strong presumptive evidence from the circ.u.mstance of the cloak having been stolen by a Guildford man. It was still very doubtful what boyl-yas were the actual perpetrators of the crime, so they were contented with vowing to kill a great many of them in some direction or the other, as soon as anyone could detect that in which the suspected ones retired. This resolution having been formed the men went into Perth in order to see that no strange natives stole either of the young widows, whilst the women lay weeping over the dead body.

PREPARATIONS FOR THE FUNERAL. FORMATION OF THE GRAVE.

I accompanied the men into Perth, and in the course of an hour was summoned by the natives to witness the funeral ceremony. They had moved the body about half a mile from the spot where the man died; the women still leant over it, uttering the words, yang, yang, yang, and occasionally chanting a few sentences.

There were but few men present, as they were watching the widows in Perth. Yenna and Warrup, the brothers-in-law of Mulligo, were digging his grave, which as usual extended due east and west; the Perth boyl-ya, Weeban by name, who, being a relation of the deceased, could of course have had no hand in occasioning his death, superintended the operations.

They commenced by digging with their sticks and hands several holes in a straight line, and as deep as they could; they then united them, and threw out the earth from the bottom of the pit thus made; all the white sand was thrown carefully into two heaps, nearly in the form of a European grave, and these heaps were situated one at the head and the other at the foot of the hole they were digging, whilst the dirty-coloured sand was thrown into two other heaps, one on each side.

The grave was very narrow, only just wide enough to admit the body of the deceased. Old Weeban paid the greatest possible attention to see that the east and west direction of the grave was preserved, and if the least deviation from this line occurred in the heaps of sand, either at the head or foot, he made some of the natives rectify it by sweeping the sand into its proper form with boughs of trees.