It is an unhealthy climate; the most frequent afflictions are intermittent fevers and impairment of the digestive organs, caused by the moist heat of the land-locked harbour, the swamps, and mangrove marshes. There are tribes of natives on Coburg Peninsula, differing but little in physical appearance, manners, and customs, but speaking a different dialect. They meet occasionally to make corroboree, a kind of dramatic dance, more famous for its noise than anything else. A dread of invasion from the cannibal tribes in the interior made them unite, and was another cause of regret at the removal of the marines. [Illustration: _An Australian Grave._] When a native dies, he is wrapped in the bark of a tree, and bound round with cord. A stage is made, by placing two forked branches, eight or ten feet in height, upright in the ground, the forks uppermost, distant from each other about five or six feet and facing the tree. A piece of wood is placed transversely, resting on the upright branches. Upon this inclined stage the body, wrapped in its coffin of bark, is laid, and there it remains. These places of deposit are avoided by the natives. Evil spirits haunt them; when they are obliged to pass, they carry a fire-stick to propitiate the spirit of darkness. Curiously enough, this mode of disposing of their dead is common all over Australia, and, to their credit, the blacks have never disturbed or defaced the graves of the Europeans buried at Port Essington. We only remained long enough to be amused and interested with everything we saw, enjoying excursions into the country; and the fact of my having control over a quantity of damaged bread made the natives very obliging. We had corroborees so often, that the kangaroo dance was as well performed on the main-deck of the _Mæander_, thousands of miles from where it originated, as we had seen it on the spot. During our stay, shooting-parties were got up. The best of the lagoons are situated on the eastern side of the harbour; where there is a succession of them. The jungle, through which we rode, was open below but shaded overhead. We were attended by marines who had been longest on the station, more intelligent in the jungle than the natives, who joined us for the sake of what they were likely to get to eat, were cheerful and obliging, and useful in carrying our ammunition, provender, and tents. Among the marines there were a few who, having a taste for that sort of life, had for years supplied the settlement with game, and eventually became experienced hunters, and excelled the natives in sagacity in all that appertains to the mysteries of the jungle. These men alone were enough to make a bush-party agreeable. Highest in military rank was Sergeant Copp, a steady, untiring, keen sportsman. Corporals Rowe, Chalford, and Jeffries were all good shots, good-tempered, hard-working fellows, for whom the natives would do anything.