illness is attributed to the Boyl-yas or to the Wangulls. The
®°yl~yas are possessed of the power of Boyl-ya, or of playing
the sorcerer. The Wangulls are imaginary aquatic monsters,
residing in fresh water and endowed with supernatural power.
The natives of the Gulf of Carpentaria, and those near
St. Vincent’s Gulf, which are exactly opposite, practise circumcision,
and this is the more remarkable as they are
separated by about twelve hundred miles.
The following account of the funerals of the Australian
tribe near King George’s Sound has been given by a writer to
whom we owe much valuable information.*
“ Their funeral solemnities are accompanied by loud lamentations.
A grave is dug about four feet long« and three wide,
and perhaps a yard in depth. The earth that is removed is
arranged on one side of the grave in the form of a crescent;
at the bottom is placed some bark, and then small green
boughs, and upon this the body, ornamented and enveloped
in its cloak, with the knees bent up to the breast, and the
arms crossed. Over the body arc heaped more green boughs
and bark, and the hole is then filled with earth. Green
boughs are placed over the earth, and upon them are de*
posited the spears, knife, and hammer of the deceased,
together with the ornaments that belonged to him ; his
throwing-stick on one side, and the curl or towk on the other
side of the mound. The mourners then carve circles in the
bark of the trees that grow near the grave, at the height of
six or seven feet from the ground; and lastly, making a small
fire in front, they gather small boughs, and carefully brush
away any portions of the earth that may adhere to them.
The face is coloured black or white, laid on in blotches across
the forehead, round the temples, and down the cheek-bones;
and these marks of mourning are worn for a considerable
time. They also cut the end of the nose, and scratch it,
for the purpose of producing tears. During, the period of the
mourning they wear no ornaments or feathers. It frequently
occurs that two individuals bear the same name, and in this
case, should one of them die, the other changes his name for a
certain period, in order that the name of the deceased should
not be uttered.
“ When a female is interred,- her implements are, in like
manner, deposited in her grave.
(t From this trait it would be. natural they
have a belief of a future state; and I think it cannot be
doubted that they have. They have very readily adopted an
idea which was held out to them, that after death’.they, would
go to the moon; but I do not think this was their prior
opinion, for in reply to my enquiry,' | Where their fathers
had gone?’ they pointed westward.
(< They believe in ghosts, and some, will assert that they
have seen them. I once showed a boy an. anatomical drawing
of a full figure, upon which he immediately , ^claimed
that it was a gnoit > and some them who had obtained a
glimpse ©f the drawing could not«be^persuaded' to look upon
it again. They a re alsa very superstitious as regards omens :
the noise of the night-cuckoo is: supposed by them to portend
death.” 1
I Section the Language o f the-Australasians.
I t wasTor a long time supposed that a great variety of languages
exist in Australasia ; that every little tribe or horde
into which the population of the country is divided? has an
idiom of its own totally different from the speech tfef its
nearest neighbours. It was observed by Mr. GoUms that,
after passing a river or a ridge of mountains a traveller often
finds himself surrounded by a people who^ are perfectly unintelligible
to the:-tribe wMeh-c?h©ahadsi»éeBftïy and by
whom even the great objects of nature, such «s the sun,
moon, stars, and the physical elements^ v earth, wafer, fire,
were designated by entirely new and previously unheard
names. Later writers' confirmed this statement. Captain
Flinders compared the vocabulary of the people near King
George’s Sound with that used by the natives of Port Jack-
son, and both with words collected from the J;ribe near the
southern extremity of Tasmania and from the people living