The body being thus arranged, fires are lighted under the platform, and kept up for ten days or more, during the whole of which time the friends and mourners remain by the body, and are not permitted to speak. Sentinels relieve each other at appointed intervals, their duty being to see that the fires are not suffered to go out, and to keep the flies away by waving leafy boughs or bunches of emu feathers. When a body has been treated in this manner, it becomes hard and mummy-like, and the strangest point is, that the wild dogs will not touch it after it has been so long smoked. It remains sitting on the platform for two months or so, and is then taken down and buried, with the exception of the skull, which is made into a drinking-cup for the nearest relative, as has already been mentioned. [Illustration: (1.) CARVED FEATHER BOX, NEW ZEALAND. (See page 813.)] [Illustration: (2.) SMOKING THE BODIES OF SLAIN WARRIORS. (See page 777.)] [Illustration: (3.) TREE TOMBS OF AUSTRALIA. (See page 774.)] Considering the trouble which is taken in the preparation of these bodies, and the evident respect which is felt for a brave warrior in death as well as in life, the after treatment of them is very remarkable. When a friend, or even an individual of the same tribe, sees one of these mummified bodies for the first time, he pays no honor to it, but loads it with reproaches, abusing the dead man for dying when the tribe stood in such need of brave and skilful men, and saying that he ought to have known better than to die when there was plenty of food in the country. Then, after contemplating the body for some time, he hurls his spear and club at it, crying out at the same time, “Why did you die? Take that for dying.” In the illustration No. 2, on page 775, two of these bodies are seen seated on the platform, supported by being tied to the uprights by their hands and heads, and having their weapons in their laps. On one side is one of the sentinels engaged in driving away the flies with his flapper, and on the other is a second sentinel bringing fuel for the fire. The seated figures belong to the same tribe. Around Portland Bay, and toward the south-eastern parts of the continent, the natives have a curious combination of entombment and burning. They let the dead body down into one of the hollow trees, where it is supported in an upright position. A quantity of dry leaves and grass is then heaped upon the tree, and the whole consumed by fire, amid the dismal screams and cries of the women. It is rather curious that funeral ceremonies are only employed in the case of those whose death is supposed to be a loss to the tribe. Men, and even boys, are therefore honored with funeral rites, because the younger men are warriors, the boys would have been warriors, and the old men have done service by arms, and are still useful for their wisdom. Even young women are buried with some amount of show, because they produce children for the tribe.