Australia, its history and present condition: containing an account both of the bush and of the colonies,; with their respective inhabitantsPridden, W. (William)
History
Australia, its history and present condition: containing an account both of the bush and of the colonies,; with their respective inhabitants
Pridden, W. (William)
Australia -- Description and travel
In about an hour's time, the body was removed to a distance of nearly
half a mile from the spot where the death had taken place, and the women
were still leaning over it, uttering the words, _yang, yang, yang_, and
occasionally chanting a few sentences. The grave was then dug, as usual,
due east and west, with no better instruments than sticks and hands; but
afterwards, when many Europeans had assembled at the spot, to the great
annoyance of the natives, these last occasionally employed a spade,
although, from the extreme narrowness of the grave, it was no easy
matter to make use of this implement. During the digging an insect had
been thrown up, whose motions were watched with the deepest interest,
and since the animal crawled off in the direction of Guildford, this was
thought an additional proof of the guilt of the sorcerers of that place,
who had before been suspected, because the cloak had been stolen by a
man living near this settlement.
When the grave was completed, they set fire to some dried leaves and
twigs which they threw in, and old Weeban, the friendly sorcerer, knelt
at the foot of the grave, with his back to the east, and his head bowed
down to the earth in a posture of the deepest attention; his office
being a very important one, namely, to discover in what direction the
hostile _Boyl-yas_ would take their flight, when drawn out of the earth
by the heat. The fire roared for some time in the grave; and the hollow
sound of the flames arising from the narrow opening evidently aroused
the superstitious fears of the bystanders, until the old conjuror
signified by his actions that the authors of the mischief were gone off
in the direction of Guildford. The relatives of the deceased appeared
satisfied at knowing upon whom to avenge the foul witchcraft, and at
being assured of the cause of their friend's death. The body of Mulligo
was then taken from the females, his mother having, for the last time,
fervently kissed its cold lips; and the corpse was lowered into the
grave, and placed 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 continued their mournful songs, and
the grave was filled up with small green boughs and earth, until the
tomb was completed, presenting the appearance, owing to the heaps placed
at the head and foot, of three graves nearly alike in size and form,
lying in a due east and west direction. On the same evening, the old
mother was found sitting at the place where her son's remains were
interred, and crying bitterly. She had caught the _Boyl-yas_, she said,
in the very act of sitting round Mulligo's grave, for the purpose of
preying upon his miserable body, and she pointed out their tracks at the
spot from which they sprung into the air, in the direction of Guildford,
but European eyes were not keen enough to detect these mysterious traces
of mischief.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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