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When the painting was done, all the natives gathered round the posts and began to dance, the mother of the dead man, smeared all over with red ochre, taking a prominent part. When this preliminary dance was over, the posts were lifted out of the ground and carried into the scrub, where they were deposited for a time, about a hundred yards from the grave. A large fire was lighted, giving off great clouds of smoke, and, first of all, on this occasion, two old men, who were tribal fathers of the dead man, went into it so as to singe the hair off their legs and arms. They must do this or else they will be seriously ill. Then all the men ran round and round in the smoke, after which they gathered together and came on rushing towards the grave, yelling and throwing sticks and spears ahead of them. The idea of this was to drive the spirit, called mapuditti, into the grave. The women and children ranged themselves to one side, some of them wearing the curious armlets made of stringy-bark with remarkable projecting decorations, others carrying ornaments like great circular discs, out of which, in most cases, the centres had been cut (Plates VIII and IX). Each of them was made of bands of pliable reed or cane, over which human hair string had been wound. The string was coloured red, yellow, and black, and often had masses of beeswax, into which were stuck bright red Abrus berries, while tassels, ending in knobs of wax, decorated again with Abrus seed, hung down. The larger ones measured as much as fifteen

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inches in diameter. In general shape they are More like great flattened-out quoits than anything else. During the ceremony, and these armlets are apparently only used in this connection, the women wear them on their arms, for which in almost every case they are much too big. They can only be kept in place by pressing the arms against the side of the body and bending them at the elbow in a very characteristic fashion (Fig. 52). Some of them are large enough to go round a woman's leg. The discs are held in the right hand, which is raised up high when the women dance, during the ceremony.

After the men had come to the grave, they set to work and cleared away all the grass that had grown on and around the mound, and then dug holes for the posts (Fig. 54). This over, they stood quietly to one side while some of them went to where the posts had been deposited and brought them in one by one. The number of posts erected at any one ceremony varies to a large extent; there may be only one, or there may be several. When they were all firmly fixed in the ground, the men ranged themselves in a line close behind the grave, the women and children standing to one side. The men were decorated in various ways. Some of them had their bodies covered with red, others with yellow ochre, some with charcoal, others with lines of red and black or black and yellow. The women during the ceremony on Melville Island, which was concerned with a dead lubra, had the upper halves of their bodies painted red and the lower yellow, the leading one, a comparatively young girl and sister of the dead woman, had, in addition, the whole upper half of her face painted black. Two of the older men looked especially fierce and weird. They had very curly hair, almost frizzly, and had decorated themselves with lines and bands of yellow, red, black, and

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white, so as to cover not only the whole of their faces, but their hair and beards as well. They were very pleased with themselves and when, after the ceremony was over, I took a rough sketch of one of their heads to use as a colour key to a photograph, the other was most anxious that I should do the same for him. They both took themselves very seriously and evidently thought that they had made a strong impression on us, which, as a matter of fact, was quite true, because they looked about as wild and fearsome as human beings well could.

The performance began with the father dancing round and round the posts with his hands behind his back and his head thrown well back. While he danced he sang:--

ending always with loud shouts of Ia! la! E! E! the last very loud and prolonged. During the whole time of dancing, the men, standing in a long line, were singing and stamping furiously. The stamping is done in time to a very characteristic action which consists in every man striking his buttocks with the open palm of his hand. They become very excited and, far away in the bush, you can hear this peculiar striking sound, because the time they keep is perfect. After a pause, the father came on again, this time dancing right over the grave, in and out amongst the posts. A third time he came on, representing now a crocodile. He crouched down, low on the ground, walking on hands and feet, with his body fully extended. Every now and then he lifted his head, peering about from side to side as if he were looking about for his prey. This continued for some time, his acting being very good indeed and

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then, jumping to his feet, he was joined by two other men, one covered from head to foot with yellow ochre, the other with black, and then the three, with their hands clasped behind their backs and their heads thrown well back, rushed wildly round and round the grave. After a time they slowed down and then, coming in from one side, the women, led by a young girl, who was sister of the dead woman, took the lead and, very solemnly, danced round the posts. On Bathurst Island, during a similar ceremony, the women stood to one side and, at intervals, while the men were running round, they passed across and back again on the side of the grave opposite to that on which the men were standing. Every woman wears a curious apron (Fig. 55). It is made out of a more or less circular sheet of paper bark folded over to form a semicircular one. The paper bark is very soft and pliable and is always held in place by the elbows, which the women press against their sides, in a very characteristic way. It has not, apparently, struck them that a string, run through the fold and tied round the waist, would save them a good deal of trouble. Some of the women held the quoit-like ornaments in one hand which was lifted up, while the other kept the apron in place. One or two of them carried a picaninny on their shoulders, the little one hanging on to its mother's hair as she pranced across from side to side. I have been quite unable to find out what is the meaning of these discs and armlets., but they are always carried during these ceremonies and are, I believe, only used in connection with them.

For a time, the father, who had been very greatly exerting himself, joined the audience; he was nearly played out and the two men, the black and the yellow, took up the running, rushing round and round, pausing

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every now and then to face the posts and yell Boo! whrr! whrr! wildly at them. Then they stopped dancing and bent down, pointing at the grave in which the spirit was supposed to be watching them. The women formed into a procession and, with their deliberate movement and peculiar high knee action, danced round and round the audience of men who, as usual, were keeping time, striking their buttocks, stamping and singing. On Melville Island one man, but on Bathurst Island, about a dozen men performed a buffalo dance. They came out to one side of the grave, on to a cleared space and there they imitated, wonderfully well, the actions of the animals. Each man had his arms lifted up and curved round to represent the long horns. They rubbed themselves against the grave posts and trees, just like the animal does; browsed quietly about or pawed the earth up, with their heads down, as if they were angry. Finally, they all grouped themselves together, ran to the grave and circled round and round it. After a rest, the father came on again and, after dancing round furiously, fell down flat on the ground, beside the posts. Four other men came up with short spears and, after peering about from side to side, in a stealthy way, crept up quietly to where the old man was supposed to be asleep and, suddenly, speared him through the chest. He writhed about on the ground while all the men and women danced round. This of course was supposed to represent the killing of a native by enemies who had crept on him unawares, while he slept. Another very weird dance was supposed to represent a fight. All the men came to the side of the grave opposite to that on which they had been standing. Then they began prancing about in the most extraordinary fashion, men on the left side would suddenly rush across sideways to the right and

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vice versâ. Every now and again a man would jump up in the air as high as he could (Fig. 56). Even one of the older men would spring from the ground until his loins were on the level of the shoulders or sometimes the heads of the men amongst whom he was standing. This over they returned to their first position. After a short pause the father, together with the men painted black and yellow, respectively, danced round and round, gesticulating wildly and yelling loudly, while time after time they threw small spears into the side of the grave. Once more the lubras joined in and then the yellow-ochred man performed a prolonged dance with frenzied movements, stamping and yelling and raising the dust, while he pounded round and round, urged on by the yelling and stamping of the excited natives who were keenly watching him, until, thoroughly played out, he fell down on one side of the grave. Even then the dance was taken up by three others, two rushing round one way and one the other. It was now late in the afternoon; the sun was low and the shafts of light that pierced the scrub threw long shadows from the gum trees and Cycads on the group of weird figures dancing wildly in the luminous dust. It was in vain that I tried to secure some records of the scene but, under the shade of the scrub and gum trees and in the yellow light of a tropical evening, my camera was useless.

The sun was setting, but on and on they danced. All that we could make out of the singing were refrains such as these,

At length the performance came to an end. All the men took part in a final wild dance round the grave, the

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women moving slowly round and round on the outside until, suddenly, the men bent down, yelled at the mound with all their might, and ceased dancing (Fig. 53). For a few minutes there was silence, the men gathered round the grave-posts, leaned against them and over the mound, and then, in single file, passed away through the darkening forest.

At a later time, I saw the same ceremonies on Bathurst island and was able to use, more or less successfully, the ordinary camera and the cinematograph, but, though a considerably larger number of natives took part, there was nothing quite so picturesque as the first ceremony that I saw on Melville Island.

Apart from the short final scene, when they were clearly supposed to be mourning, there was certainly not the slightest indication of sorrow. Everyone was very excited, but, between the dances, they laughed and talked as if they were taking part in an ordinary corrobboree, and it is evident that the whole ceremony is carried out with the object of pleasing the spirit of the dead person and also, at the same time, of intimating to it the fact that they expect it to remain quiet and not trouble them.

In the Kakadu tribe, while I was working amongst the natives at Oenpelli with Mr. Cahill, a woman named Muranga died in the camp. Early in the morning we went down to see what was happening. The camp was under the shade of a Banyan tree and the body, wrapped in paper bark, lay to one side, men, women, and children sitting and standing around, looking very solemn and only speaking, when they had to do so, In whispers. The husband of the dead woman was seated with her head on his knee, while her two sons, one grown up called Wariut and the other a young man named Mungortja, sat at her feet where, also, close by,

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was the wife of her son Wariut, named Minborku. The body had been wrapped in paper bark by the husband, husband's brother, and eldest son, but not the younger one, who was not allowed to touch it.

Two men, named Majeralak and Wudeirti, neither of whom was closely related to the dead woman, lifted it from the ground and carried it away on their shoulder, through the scrub while we all, men, women, and children, followed in single file (Fig. 57). There is no obligation for any special men to carry the body and, if it has to be carried a long distance, any member of the local group may take his share in the work. After walking about a mile we came to a large rock by the side of which they laid the body down. This spot had been selected by the husband for the grave and, when we reached it, all the women and children and most of the men retired to one side and sat down. Three or four men set to work to dig, but after some time they came down on to bed rock and so a new grave had to be dug a yard or two away. This time they were successful and a trench, about four and a half feet long and two and a half wide and three deep, was dug with the aid of sticks and hands. There are no special individuals who are supposed to take part in the digging, any grown man is allowed to help. The grave itself is called Keramu.

When the exact site had been selected and before digging actually began, the women and children were summoned and came up, led by one of the older women named Kumbainba. She carried in her hand a shell that the natives commonly use for holding water or ochre, but, on this occasion, it held a few small stones which she jingled about as the women and children followed her in single file round the grave. This walking round is called Kulorbuto. As they walked round they sang the

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following words, which were supposed to be addressed to the spirit of the dead woman:--

Tjukororu, lie down; koyada, don't, ngeinyimma, you, workai, come back; tjukororu, lie down; kala, a word meaning all right, just so, etc.; bialilla, children; unkoregora, see; iwaiyu, spirit; balera, later on; kujeri, sick. That is, "You lie down quietly, do not come back, lie down all right--if the children see your spirit, later on they will be sick."

When the grave was approaching completion, three women, one of whom was the daughter-in-law, Minborku, went into the scrub and gathered armfuls of grass stalks and leafy twigs and, returning, placed them by the grave. When the trench was ready the husband, her two sons, and Minborku sat by the side of the body, which was still wrapped in paper bark, and cut their heads till the blood flowed down their faces on to their bodies. Three of the husband's brothers, named Mirriu, Mitjunga, and Kamerana, unwrapped the paper bark from around the body. Kamerana went down into the grave, arranged a thick layer of grass stalks and leaves, and trampled them down. The body was laid on the ground, face downwards, with the legs bent back at the knees. Then it was placed in the grave, lying on its right side, and a thick covering of grass stalks and leaves was placed above it. After this the soil was piled over it so as to form a small mound on which stones were firmly placed to prevent the dingoes from burrowing down in the loosened ground (Fig. 58). While this was going on and after it was over, everyone wailed and cut themselves freely--men and women alike-until the blood flowed.

Some of the blood from the husband and his two sons was collected in a small piece of the paper bark in

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which the body had been wrapped and, folding the remainder of the bark round the belongings of the dead woman, such as dilly bags, mat on which she lay and digging stick, which had been brought to the grave, brought the parcel back to camp and placed it in the Banyan tree close to the spot on which the woman had died.

All men who take part in the burial ceremony and cut their heads on the occasion, must, a little later on, take part in what is called the Morlil ceremony. Not only Is this the case in regard to the particular camp to which the dead person belonged, but, often in other camps, when they hear of the death of any special person, they will cut themselves and then, at a later time, will also perform the Morlil. The ceremony is really divided into two distinct parts. In the one that I saw, the woman died on July 1st; the first part of the Morlil was held on July 4th, and the second part on July 22nd.

It is a very interesting one and is, in part at least, of the nature of a purification ceremony. In connection with the first part everyone in camp brings up all of his or her possessions; the women bring their mats (nini-bura-bara), baskets (mangul), dilly bags (quiappa), and digging sticks (worbai); the men bring their spears, spear-throwers and tomahawks, though now-a-days, even amongst the Kakadu, the old stone axe is practically a thing of the past. In the centre of the camping ground, where the woman died, a circle of grass stalks was made about eight feet in diameter. Around this, the dilly bags and baskets of all the women in the camp were hung on sticks, or on tree trunks, close by; the men's weapons were arranged on the ground. Within the circle of stalks were placed, first the bundle of paper bark, or ranken (Fig. 59), in which the dead woman had been

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wrapped and carried to the grave, secondly, her belongings, mat, dilly bags, digging stick, baskets, thirdly, two or three palm-leaf baskets full of water, and, fourthly, a similar basketful of charcoal that must be made from a special pea-bush. The ordinary name for charcoal is kunbelji, but that used during the ceremony is miornai.

First of all, on one side of the ground, a special fire was made and the dilly bags of the eldest surviving sister were placed close to it, so that the smoke from the fire passed over and through them. The bags were thus purified and could be used again to hold food. The latter must not be placed in them, after the woman's death, until such time as they have been thus smoked. If this were not done and anyone should eat food carried in them, the result would be serious illness and very likely death to anyone who ate food that had been carried in them. After this, the grass stalks were lighted and the men who were to paint themselves went inside the circle and, while the smoke curled round them, they lifted up the baskets containing water and poured this over one another's heads (Fig. 60). At this particular ceremony the pouring of water was continued even after the fire had burned down and only a ring of ashes was left. The paper bark in which the body had been wrapped and all the dead woman's belongings were burnt in the fire, and afterwards the ashes were completely and very carefully covered over. In the case of a man his weapons are broken up and then burnt in the same way.^[1] In most tribes all the belongings of a dead person are the property of some special individual, such as a mother's brother, but here they are all destroyed.