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has died in a foreign country, he is placed in a position facing it; if in his own country, he is made to look towards the East. The hole is just filled in with earth, and sometimes a vertical blaze (of indeterminate shape) is cut on some neighbouring trees.
In the case now of some aboriginal who has had plenty
of friends or who has made a name for himself, the procedure of burial is somewhat different, and there is a greater amount of mourning (It must be borne in mind that none of these aboriginals believe in natural death, even when occurring from old age). The body is buried in bark ^for some three or four days in a hole not more than a foot-deep, earth covered on, and at the same time an ordinary humpy or hut built over the site: in this hut, the chief mourners reside, and hence the size of construction will depend upon the number of people it has to shelter. When all his relatives and friends, and visitors have at last, at the end of 3 or days been gathered together, the grass-covering of the hut (sect. 58) is removed, but the framework allowed to stand. Certain old men, and the ^deceased's nearest relatives (and these are reckoned to be his blood- or group mother's brothers) now dig him up, lay the corpse out on the flat, and carefully examine for any bruises or marks of external violence that are either real or imaginary, and consult as to which ones may be accounted for, and as to which may be laid at the door of some alleged enemy. They now start removing the whole of the outer skin, commencing operations by pressing with the ball of the thumb, and so peeling off the outer cuticle with its contained colouring matter, leaving a comparatively pale surface, just like a pig's. Another careful examination is again made for any marks of violence, and of course certain bruises are invariably discovered : (at other times, a [confe???at] will purposely make some).[end of page]