Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia Volume II Part 27

Before the digging of the grave was completed many Europeans had arrived at the spot for the purpose of witnessing the ceremony; the natives were not a little annoyed at this, however they proceeded rapidly in their work, occasionally employing a spade, but from the extreme narrowness of the grave, it was by no means easy to make use of this tool. During the process of digging, an insect having been thrown up, its motions were watched with the most intense interest, and as this little animal thought proper to crawl off in the direction of Guildford, an additional proof was furnished to the natives of the guilt of the boyl-yas of that place.

SUPERSt.i.tIOUS RITES.

When the grave was completed, they set fire to some dried leaves and twigs, then throwing them in they soon had a large blaze in it: during this part of the ceremony old Weeban knelt on the ground at the foot of the grave with his back turned towards the east, and his head bowed to the earth, his whole att.i.tude denoting the most profound attention; the duty he had now to perform was a very important one, being no less than to discover in which direction the boyl-yas, when drawn out of the earth by the fire, would take flight. Their departure was not audible to common ears or visible to the eyes of ordinary mortals, but his power of boyl-ya gaduk enabled him to distinguish these sights and sounds which were invisible and inaudible to the bystanders.

The fire roared for some time loudly in the grave, and every eye rested anxiously on old Weeban; the hollow, almost mysterious, sound of the flames as they rose from the narrow aperture evidently had a powerful effect upon the superst.i.tious fears of the natives, and when he suddenly raised his meerro and then let it fall over his shoulder in a due east direction (the direction of Guildford) a grim smile of satisfaction pa.s.sed over the countenances of the young men, who now knew in what direction to avenge the foul witchcraft which they felt a.s.sured had brought about the death of their brother-in-law.

THE BURIAL.

The next part of their proceedings was to take the body of Mulligo from the females: they raised it in a cloak; his old mother made no effort to prevent its being removed, but pa.s.sionately and fervently kissed the cold rigid lips, which she could never press to hers again. The body was then lowered into the grave and seated upon a bed of leaves which had been laid there directly the fire was extinguished, the face being, according to custom, turned towards the east. The women still remained grouped together, sobbing forth their mournful songs, whilst the men placed small green boughs upon the body until they had more than half filled up the grave with them; cross-pieces of wood of considerable size were then fixed in the opposite sides of the grave, green boughs placed on these, and the earth from the two side heaps thrown in, until the grave was completed; which then, owing to the heaps at the head and foot, presented the appearance of three graves, nearly similar in size and form, lying in a due east and west direction.

The men having now completed their task the women came with bundles of blackboy tops which they had gathered, and laid these down on the central heap so as to give it a green and pleasing appearance; they placed neither meerro nor spear on the grave, but whilst they were filling in the earth old Weeban and another native sat on their hams at the head of it, facing the one to the north, and the other to the south, their foreheads leaning on their clasped hands, which rested on one end of a meerro whilst the other end was placed on the ground. The ceremonies having been thus concluded I returned to Perth.

WATCHING THE GRAVE.

Sunday June 16.

This evening I walked out to Mulligo's grave and found his old mother seated there, crying bitterly. She had indeed good reason to weep, for those infamous boyl-yas, not content with eating the flesh of her son during his lifetime, and thereby causing his death, had been detected by her in the very act of sitting round his grave for the purpose of preying on his miserable remains. There could, it appears, be no doubt of the truth of this strange fact, for the poor old lady triumphantly pointed out their tracks, at the spot from whence they sprang into the air, in the direction of Guildford; but my eyes unfortunately were not good enough to detect the slightest vestige of any traces, either human or spiritual. However much this might have made me suspect the old lady's veracity it had no such effect upon the natives, and being now firmly convinced that the Guildford boyl-yas were the guilty parties, they announced their intention of starting in a few days for the purpose of putting Weenat to death.

CONTEST FOR MULLIGO'S WIDOWS.

June 17.

Miago ought, according to custom, to have allowed three full days to elapse before his brother's widows entered his hut, but as Bennyyowlee appeared resolved not to renounce his intention of claiming the hand of one of the ladies Miago's friends thought it more prudent to bring matters to a speedy issue, lest, in the interim, his rival might carry of Mugawit, the young lady he was desirous of possessing. On Monday evening therefore when I went to the native encampment I found that the first forms of the marriage ceremony had taken place, which were as follows:

Miago ordered the two widows of his brother to prepare his hut, that as soon as the sun had set he might sleep there. Bennyyowlee, who, with his friends and supporters were encamped within a few yards of the other party, went up to Mugawit and ordered her to follow him to his Mya, or bark hut; this she declined doing, and he immediately speared her in the thigh. Miago now, as in duty bound, threw a quartz-headed spear at Bennyyowlee, which, if the latter had not most dexterously avoided, must have proved fatal. A general disturbance would have taken place had not I and several other Europeans come up at the same moment and pacified Miago, whilst Bennyyowlee took advantage of this temporary calm to evacuate the field, followed by insulting shouts of laughter from Miago's friends.

A circ.u.mstance strongly ill.u.s.trating the peculiar family customs of this people occurred this evening. Moorroongo, Miago's stepfather, was a Tdondarup, and as such stood in the relation of matta-gyne to Bennyyowlee; his hut stood therefore amongst those of this native's friends, and Miago's future wives remained in the care of his mother, and of course amongst the friends of his rival. When however Bennyyowlee departed Miago's mother and the two native girls went over to the Ngotak and Nagarnook party, who were, on this occasion, united. They then built a hut for Miago and lighted a fire; the old mother herself swept out the hut, so as to make it perfectly clean and nice; the brides then laid down in it, one on each side, so as to leave a vacant place in the centre for their new lord and master; and Miago's mother, having seen all these arrangements completed, returned once more to the hut of her husband.

This was a remarkable instance of a stepfather and son being by custom compelled to espouse opposite sides of a quarrel because they bore different family names.

BURIAL OF A NATIVE IN THE LESCHENAULT DISTRICT. BURIAL AT THE Va.s.sE.

As these forms of interment have considerable interest and are somewhat varied in their details in different localities, I have subjoined the following account of the burial of a native, as described in an extract of a letter from Mr. Bussel, a gentleman resident near the Va.s.se River in Western Australia:

PROCESSION TO THE GRAVE.

The funeral is a wild and fearful ceremony. Before I had finished in the stockyard the dead man was already removed and on its way to the place of interment, about a quarter of a mile from where the death took place,*

and I left our house entirely guided by the shrill wailing of the female natives as they followed, mourning, after the two men who bore the body in their arms.

(*Footnote. He had been murdered by his countrymen whilst tending Mr.

Bussel's cattle.)

The dirge, as distance blended all the voices, was very plaintive, even musical; nor did the diminution of distance destroy the harmony entirely; some of the chants were really beautiful, but rendered perhaps too harsh for our ears in actual contact: for as I joined myself to the procession, and became susceptible of the trembling cadence of each separate performer--the human voice in every key which the extremes of youth and age might produce, there was a sensation effected which I cannot well describe--a terrible jarring of the brain. The fact that the involuntary tears rolled down the cheeks of those infants who sat pa.s.sively on their mothers' shoulders, not appreciating the cause of lament, but merely as listeners, must prove that these sounds are calculated to affect the nervous system powerfully.

CEREMONIES ON INTERMENT.

The procession moved slowly on and at length arrived at the place fixed upon for the burial. There had been a short silence previous to coming thus far, as if to give the voice a rest; for as the body touched the ground, and the bearers stood erect and silent, a piercing shriek was given, and as this died away into a chant some of the elder women lacerated their scalps with sharp bones until the blood ran down their furrowed faces in actual streams. The eldest of the bearers then stepped forward and proceeded to dig the grave. I offered to get a spade, but they would not have it; the digging stick was the proper tool, which they used with greater despatch than from its imperfect nature could have been expected at first sight. The earth being loosened with this implement was then thrown out with the hands with great dexterity, in complete showers so as to form, in the same line with the grave, at both ends, two elongated banks, the sand composing them so lightly hurled as to seem almost like drift-sand on the seash.o.r.e. In the throw, if perchance the right limit was outstepped, the proper form was retained by sweeping.

The digging, notwithstanding the art displayed, was very tedious: they all sat in silence, and there were no chants to understand, or to fancy one understood, or perhaps to make meanings to.

But at length the grave was finished, and they then threw some dry leaves into it, and, setting fire to them, while the blaze was rising up, everyone present struck repeatedly a bundle of spears with the mearu which they held with the b.u.t.ts downwards, making a rattling noise. Then, when the fire had burnt out, they placed the corpse beside the grave, and gashed their thighs, and at the flowing of the blood they all said, "I have brought blood," and they stamped the foot forcibly on the ground, sprinkling the blood around them; then, wiping the wounds with a wisp of leaves, they threw it, b.l.o.o.d.y as it was, on the dead man; then a loud scream ensued and they lowered the body into the grave, resting on the back, with the soles of the feet on the ground and the knees bent; they filled the grave with soft brushwood, and piled logs on this to a considerable height, being very careful all the time to prevent any of the soil from falling into the apertures; they then constructed a hut over the woodstack, and one of the male relations got into it and said, "Mya balung einya ngin-na" ("I sit in his house.") One of the women then dropped a few live coals at his feet, and, having stuck his dismantled meerro at the end of one of the mounds, they left the place, retiring in a contrary direction from that in which they came, chanting.

BURIAL AT KING GEORGE's SOUND.

The two foregoing descriptions exhibit the native funeral ceremonies as practised at Perth, and at the Va.s.se on the sea-coast to the south of Perth. I shall now add a third description of the usages at King George's Sound as given by Mr. Scott Nind in the first volume of the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society page 46:

Their funeral solemnities are accompanied by loud lamentations. A grave is dug, about four feet long and three wide, and perhaps a yard in depth; the earth that is removed is arranged on one side of the grave in the form of a crescent; at the bottom is placed some bark, and then small green boughs, and upon this the body, ornamented and enveloped in its cloak, with the knees bent up to the breast, and the arms crossed.* Over the body are heaped more green boughs and bark, and the hole is then filled with earth. Green boughs are placed over the earth, and upon them are deposited the spears, knife, and hammer of the deceased, together with the ornaments that belonged to him; his throwing-stick on one side, and his curl (kiley) or towk (dowak) on the other side of the mound. The mourners then carve circles in the bark of the trees that grow near the grave, at the height of six or seven feet from the ground; and, lastly, making a small fire in front, they gather small boughs and carefully brush away any portion of the earth that may adhere to them. The face is coloured black or white, laid on in blotches across the forehead, round the temples, and down the cheek bones, and these marks of mourning are worn for a considerable time. They also cut the end of the nose, and scratch it for the purpose of producing tears.

(*Footnote. Charlevoix, in describing the funeral of the North American Indians, says: Le cadavre est expose a la porte de la cabanne dans la posture qu'il doit avoir dans le tombeau, et cette posture en plusieurs endroits est cela de l'enfant dans la sein de sa mere. Nor was this custom confined to these races, for, in the words of Cicero: Antiquissimum sepulturae genus id fuisse videtur, quo apud Xenophontem Cyrus ut.i.tur; redditur enim terrae corpus, et ita locatum ac situm, quasi operimento matria obducitur. De Legibus 11 66.)

CUSTOMS OF SELF-LACERATION, AND OF REMAINING WATCHING AMONG THE GRAVES.

The foregoing relations of the ceremonies practised at a native funeral exhibit some instances of the way in which they lacerate themselves in the exercise of certain superst.i.tious rites, a custom very prevalent throughout all the yet known parts of Australia, and according with those described in the first book of Kings chapter 18 verse 28: And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets till the blood gushed out upon them.

And again, Jeremiah chapter 48 verse 37: For every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped; upon all the hands shall be cuttings, etc.

The natives of many parts of Australia when at a funeral cut off portions of their beards, and, singeing these, throw them upon the dead body; in some instances they cut off the beard of the corpse, and, burning it, rub themselves and the body with the singed portions of it.

"It may be also remarked," says Major Mitch.e.l.l,* "that a superst.i.tious custom prevailed among the Gentiles in mourning for the dead. They cut off their hair, and threw it into the sepulchre with the bodies of their relations and friends, and sometimes laid it upon the face or breast of the dead as an offering to the infernal G.o.ds, whereby they thought to appease them, and make them kind to the deceased." See Maimonides de Idol 112 1, 2, 5.

(*Footnote. Australian Expedition volume 1 page 254 note.)

It is enjoined in Deuteronomy chapter 14 verse 1: Ye are the children of the Lord your G.o.d, ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. Now the native females invariably cut themselves and scratch their faces in mourning for the dead; they also literally make a baldness between their eyes, this being always one of the places where they tear the skin with the finger nails.

The custom of remaining amongst the graves is found among the natives of nearly all known portions of Australia. A similar practice is reprehended in Isaiah chapter 45 verses 4 and 5: A people that provoke me to anger continually to my face, that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of brick, which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments. See also on this subject, Lewis's Origines Hebraeae, volume 3 page 381.

In Australia the object supposed to be obtained by this custom is a revelation as to what individual caused the death of the deceased; this revelation is made either by the means of actual visions or by dreams.

MYSTERIOUS BONES.

Although the natives of the different portions of Australia have various modes of effecting the discovery of the sorcerers who caused the death of the deceased, as well as different modes of avenging his death, I feel sure that they have all one common object in view. In another part of this work I have given an account of an old woman watching by a grave with this intention; I have frequently however seen their sorcerers fulfil this duty; and the following extract from Mr. Threlkeld's Vocabulary will show the prevalence of this custom on the eastern side of the continent:*

Mur-ro-kun, the name of a mysterious bone which is obtained by the Ka-ra-kul, a doctor or conjuror, three of which sleep on the grave of a recently interred corpse; when in the night, during their sleep, the dead person inserts a mysterious bone into each thigh of the three doctors, who feel the puncture not more severe than that of the sting of an ant.

The bones remain in the flesh of the doctors without any inconvenience to them, until they wish to kill any person, when by unknown means, it is said and believed, they destroy in a supernatural manner their ill-fated victim by the mysterious bone, causing it to enter into their bodies, and so occasion their death.

(*Footnote. Threlkeld's Vocabulary page 88.)

THE BOYL-YAS OR NATIVE SORCERERS.

I have already had occasion to mention incidentally, on more than one occasion, the Boyl-yas, or native sorcerers, and their supposed powers have a mighty influence upon the minds and actions of the natives of Western Australia, in whose superst.i.tious belief the boyl-yas are objects of mysterious dread. It is supposed that they can transport themselves through the air at pleasure, and can render themselves invisible to all but other boyl-yas. If they have a dislike to a native they can kill him by stealing on him at night and consuming his flesh. They enter him like pieces of quartz, and the pain they occasion is always felt. Another boyl-ya has however the power of drawing them out and curing the affected person by certain processes of disenchantment. When this operation is effected the boyl-yas are drawn out in the form of pieces of quartz, which are kept and considered as great curiosities by the natives. All natural illnesses are attributed to these boyl-yas, or to the Wau-guls, hence the reason of some native being killed when another dies. The individual dies either by the hands of another native, from the effects of accident, or from some natural cause. In the first case his death is avenged on his murderer, or on some near relative of his; in either of the other two cases it is avenged on some connexion of the supposed boyl-yas against whom they have a spite.

KAIBER'S ACCOUNT OF THE BOYL-YAS.