Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 2Grey, George
History
Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 2
Grey, George
Natural history -- Australia -- Western Australia; Western Australia -- Discovery and exploration
Before the digging of the grave was completed many Europeans had arrived
at the spot for the purpose of witnessing the ceremony; the natives were
not a little annoyed at this, however they proceeded rapidly in their
work, occasionally employing a spade, but from the extreme narrowness of
the grave, it was by no means easy to make use of this tool. During the
process of digging, an insect having been thrown up, its motions were
watched with the most intense interest, and as this little animal thought
proper to crawl off in the direction of Guildford, an additional proof
was furnished to the natives of the guilt of the boyl-yas of that place.
SUPERSTITIOUS RITES.
When the grave was completed, they set fire to some dried leaves and
twigs, then throwing them in they soon had a large blaze in it: during
this part of the ceremony old Weeban knelt on the ground at the foot of
the grave with his back turned towards the east, and his head bowed to
the earth, his whole attitude denoting the most profound attention; the
duty he had now to perform was a very important one, being no less than
to discover in which direction the boyl-yas, when drawn out of the earth
by the fire, would take flight. Their departure was not audible to common
ears or visible to the eyes of ordinary mortals, but his power of boyl-ya
gaduk enabled him to distinguish these sights and sounds which were
invisible and inaudible to the bystanders.
The fire roared for some time loudly in the grave, and every eye rested
anxiously on old Weeban; the hollow, almost mysterious, sound of the
flames as they rose from the narrow aperture evidently had a powerful
effect upon the superstitious fears of the natives, and when he suddenly
raised his meerro and then let it fall over his shoulder in a due east
direction (the direction of Guildford) a grim smile of satisfaction
passed over the countenances of the young men, who now knew in what
direction to avenge the foul witchcraft which they felt assured had
brought about the death of their brother-in-law.
THE BURIAL.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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