SOME STRANGE WAYS OF DISPOSING OF THE DEAD
When a death has occurred in a blackfellow's camp, strange scenes are
often witnessed. Perhaps just before it took place the dying man or
woman would be brought out of the _mia_ where he or she was lying and
placed on a rug or blanket in the open air. The _mia_ would then be
pulled down to prevent the spirit remaining within it and thus becoming
an annoyance and perhaps a source of danger to the survivors.
After death has actually occurred the mourners paint themselves all over
with pipe-clay, or _wilgi_, rub huge quantities of clay and mud into
their hair, and sit around the corpse making a most hideous wailing.
They rock themselves to and fro for hours, keeping up the mourning cry
all the time, but every now and again the women will relieve the
monotony by a series of loud piercing shrieks.
The bodies of very young children sometimes remain unburied for some
considerable time. The mothers will carry them about with them wherever
they go in the hope that the spirit, seeing their grief and so young a
body, will be full of pity and return.
With this exception dead bodies are usually disposed of within a few
hours of death. The commonest method is burial, but bodies are sometimes
burned, sometimes eaten, and not infrequently placed in trees, the bones
being afterwards raked down and buried.
Graves are usually shallow, but the bodies are sometimes buried in a
sitting position, sometimes standing. In Western Australia the hands,
and at times the feet, are tied together in order to prevent the ghost
from moving about and doing mischief. Among some tribes the right thumb
is cut off before burial so that the dead man may be unable to use a
spear. In other tribes a spear and a boomerang will be placed in the
grave as the dead man may require them in the beautiful sky country to
which his spirit will go. On one of the North-West Australian sheep
stations a dead man who had been an inveterate smoker had his pipe and a
stick of tobacco placed by his side. Very often a hole is left in the
grave to enable the spirit if it wishes to do so to go in and out. In
some places the grave is covered with boughs. In other places a hut will
be built over it in the hope that the ghost will thus be kept within
bounds and will refrain from wandering about and annoying the living.
The ground around the grave will be swept clean with boughs and
occasionally watched for footmarks. After the burial the camp will as a
rule be moved.
When bodies are cremated a huge pile of dry grass and boughs is first
prepared. Above this a platform, also of boughs, is built, and the body
placed upon it and covered with more boughs. A fire-stick is then
applied by one of the nearest female relatives.
The most curious of all aboriginal methods of disposing of a dead body
is that which is usually called "tree-burial." This is probably done in
the hope of speedy re-incarnation, but when it becomes evident, say
after a year has passed, that the spirit does not intend to return the
bones are raked down with a piece of bark and placed in a cave and there
buried. In the Kimberley district of Western Australia there are numbers
of these burial caves. The arm-bone, however, is not buried with the
rest. It is solemnly laid aside, wrapped in paper bark, and often
elaborately decorated with feathers. When everything is in readiness
preparations are made for bringing it into the camp with great ceremony.
The bone is first placed in a hollow tree while some of the men go off
in search of game which they bring into the camp and solemnly offer to
the dead man's nearest male relatives. Next day the bone itself will be
brought in and placed on the ground. All at once bow reverently towards
it, the women meanwhile maintaining a loud wailing. It is then given to
one of the dead man's female relatives who places it in her hut until it
is required for the final ceremonies some days afterwards. These final
ceremonies begin with a corrobboree, and the bone is then snatched by
one of the men from the woman who has charge of it and taken to another
of the men who breaks it with an axe. As soon as the blow of the axe is
heard the women flee, shrieking, to their camp and re-commence their
wailing. The broken bone is then buried and the mourning ceremonies for
the dead man are at an end.
The most revolting of all methods of disposing of dead bodies is that of
eating them. This, however, you will be glad to learn is not very often
employed. Sometimes it is pure cannibalism that makes them do so.
Mothers have been known to join in a meal upon the bodies of their own
children. Usually only the bodies of the famous dead, great warriors for
instance, or of enemies killed in battle are thus disposed of. In some
tribes it is looked upon as the most honourable form of burial. The
reasons for this custom you will understand better when you have read
carefully the chapter on Religion.
There is one very curious custom connected with mourning which I am sure
you will be interested in hearing about, and the reason for which you
will also come to understand when you have read a few more chapters. So
far as I know it is not practised among any other people. Until the
period of mourning is at an end the nearest female relatives of the dead
man are placed under a rule of silence, and are not allowed to utter a
single word. Perhaps for as long a time as two years they are only
allowed to make use of "gesture language." Any attempt to speak on their
part would at once be visited with heavy punishment perhaps even with
death itself. It sometimes happens if there have been several deaths in
a tribe that all the women are under this ban, and it very seldom
occurs that all are allowed to speak.