"'The _Boyl-yas_,' said the trembling Kaiber, 'are natives who have the power of _boyl-ya_; they sit down to the northward, the eastward, and southward; the _Boyl-yas_ are very bad, they walk away there' (pointing to the east). 'I shall be very ill presently. The _Boyl-yas_ eat up a great many natives,--they eat them up as fire would; you and I will be very ill directly. The _Boyl-yas_ have ears: by and by they will be greatly enraged. I'll tell you no more.' "'The _Boyl-yas_ move stealthily,--you sleep and they steal on you,--very stealthily the _Boyl-yas_ move. These _Boyl-yas_ are dreadfully revengeful; by and by we shall be very ill. I'll not talk about them. They come moving along in the sky,--cannot you let them alone? I've already a terrible headache; by and by you and I will be two dead men.' "'The natives cannot see them. The _Boyl-yas_ do not bite, they feed stealthily; they do not eat the bones, but consume the flesh. Just give me what you intend to give, and I'll walk off.' What secrets can the human breast contain, When tempted by thy charms, curst love of gain! "'The _Boyl-yas_ sit at the graves of natives in great numbers. If natives are ill, the _Boyl-yas_ charm, charm, charm, charm, and charm, and, by and by, the natives recover.'" Nothing further could be learned from this terrified and unwilling witness. The custom spoken of in the last part of his evidence, that of sitting at the graves of the dead, is found in nearly all the known portions of Australia, and the object of this practice is to discover by what person the death of the deceased individual has been caused, which is supposed to be declared by dreams or visions. A similar custom among the Jews is reproved by the prophet Isaiah, chap. lxv. 4, 5. Once, when Major Mitchell had been harassed, and two of his party killed by the hostile natives, he reached a spot of security, where, while admiring the calm repose of the wild landscape, and the beauteous beams of the setting sun, he was anticipating a night free from disturbance. He was alone, waiting the arrival of his party, but his reveries were dissipated in the most soothing manner, by the soft sounds of a female voice, singing in a very different tone from that generally prevailing among the Australians. It sounded like the song of despair, and, indeed, it was the strain of a female mourning over some deceased relative; nor could the loud "hurra" of the men, when they came up, angry at the recent pillage and murder of some of the party, put to flight the melancholy songstress of the woods. On these occasions it is usual for the relatives of the deceased to continue their lamentations, appearing insensible of what people may be doing around them. The rude verses, given below, and forming the substance of a chant, sung by an old woman to incite the men to avenge the death of a young person, may serve at once for a specimen of the poetry and superstition of the Australian wilderness:--