Chapter L: Appendix: Xi--Funeral Ceremonies

The first peculiarity noticeable in their funeral ceremonies is the disposal of their dead; their young people they consign to the grave; those who have passed the middle age are burnt. Bennillong burnt the body of his first wife Ba-rang-a-roo, who, I suppose, was at the time of her decease turned fifty. I have attended them on both occasions. The interment of Ba-loo-der-ry was accompanied with many curious ceremonies. From being one day in apparent perfect health, he was brought in the next extremely ill, and attended by Bennillong, whom we found singing over him, and making use of those means which ignorance and superstition pointed out to him to recover his health. Ba-loo-der-ry lay extended on the ground, appearing to be in much pain. Bennillong applied his mouth to those parts of his patient's body which he thought were affected, breathing strongly on them, and singing: at times he waved over him some boughs dipped in water, holding one in each hand, and seemed to treat him with much attention and friendship. On the following morning he was visited by a car-rah-dy, who came express from the north shore. This man threw himself into various distortions, applied his mouth to different parts of his patient's body, and at length, after appearing to labour much, and to be in great pain, spit out a piece of a bone about an inch and a half long (which he had previously procured). Here the farce ended, and Ba-loo-der-ry's friends took the car-rah-dy with them and entertained him with such fare as they had to give him. He was at this time at our hospital; during the night his fever increased, and his friends, thinking he would be better with them, put him into a canoe, intending to take him to the north shore; but he died as they were carrying him over. This was immediately notified to us by a violent clamour among the women and children; and Bennillong soon after coming into the town, it was agreed upon between him and the governor that the body should be buried in the governor's garden.

In the afternoon it was brought over in a canoe, and deposited in a hut at the bottom of the garden, several natives attending, and the women and children lamenting and howling most dismally. The body was wrapped up in the jacket which he usually wore, and some pieces of blanketting tied round it with bines. The men were all armed, and, without any provocation, two of them had a contest with clubs; at the same time a few blows passed between some of the women. Boo-roong had her head cut by Go-roo-ber-ra, the mother of the deceased. Spears were also thrown, but evidently as part of a ceremony, and not with an intention of doing injury to any one. At the request of Bennillong, a blanket was laid over the corpse, and Cole-be his friend sat by the body all night, nor could he be prevailed on to quit it.

They remained rather silent till about one in the morning, when the women began to cry, and continued for some time. At daylight Bennillong brought his canoe to the place, and cutting it to a proper length, the body was placed in it, with a spear, a fiz-gig, a throwing-stick, and a line which Ba-loo-derry had worn round his waist. Some time was taken up in adjusting all this business, during which the men were silent, but the women, boys, and children uttered the most dismal lamentations. The father stood alone and unemployed, a silent observer of all that was doing about his deceased son, and a perfect picture of deep and unaffected sorrow. Every thing being ready, the men and boys all assisted in lifting the canoe with the body from the ground, and placing it on the heads of two natives, Collins and Yow-war-re. Some of the assistants had tufts of grass in their hands, which they waved backwards and forwards under the canoe, while it was lifting from the ground, as if they were exorcising some evil spirit. As soon as it was fixed on the heads of the bearers, they set off, preceded by Bennillong and another man, Wat-te-wal, both walking with a quick step towards the point of the cove where Bennillong's hut stood. Mau-go-ran, the father, attended them armed with his spear and throwing-stick, while Bennillong and Wat-te-wal had nothing in their hands but tufts of grass, which as they went they waved about, sometimes turning and facing the corpse, at others waving their tufts of grass among the bushes. When they fronted the corpse, the head of which was carried foremost, the bearers made a motion with their heads from side to side, as if endeavouring to avoid the people who fronted them. After proceeding thus to some little distance, Wat-te-wal turned aside from the path, and went up to a bush, into which he seemed to look very narrowly, as if searching for something that he could not find, and waving about the tufts of grass which he had in either hand. After this fruitless search, they all turned back, and went on in a somewhat quicker pace than before. On their drawing near the spot where the women and children were sitting with the other men, the father threw two spears towards, but (evidently intentionally) short of them. Here Bennillong took his infant child, Dil-boong in his arms, and held it up to the corpse, the bearers endeavouring to avoid it as before described. Be-dia Be-dia, the reputed brother of the deceased, a very fine boy of about five years of age, was then called for, but came forward very reluctantly, and was presented in the same manner as the other child. After this they proceeded to the grave which had been prepared in the governor's garden. Twice they changed the bearer who walked the foremost, but his friend Collins carried him the whole of the way. At the grave some delay took place, for unfortunately it was found not to be long enough; but after some time, it being completed according to their wishes, Yel-lo-way levelled the bottom with his hands and feet, and then strewed some grass in it, after which he stretched himself at his length in it, first on his back, and then on his right side. Bennillong had earnestly requested that some drums might be ordered to attend, which was granted, and two or three marches were beat while the grave was preparing; Bennillong highly approving, and pointing at the time first to the deceased and then to the skies, as if there was some connexion between them at that moment. When the grave was ready, the men to the number of five or six got in with the body, but being still somewhat too short, the ends of the canoe were cut, in doing which the bines were loosened and the corpse exposed to view. It appeared to be in a very putrid state. Every thing was however adjusted, and the grave was filled in by the natives and some of our people.

On laying the body in the grave, great care was taken so to place it, that the sun might look at it as he passed, Bennillong and Cole-be taking their observations for that purpose, and cutting down every shrub that could at all obstruct the view. He was placed on his right side with his head to the NW.

The native Yow-war-re appeared to have much to do in this ceremony. When the grave was covered in, and laid up round, he collected several branches of shrubs, and placed them in a half circle on the south side of the grave, extending them from the foot to the head of it. He also laid grass and boughs on the top of it, and crowned the whole with a large log of wood. This log appeared to be placed there for some particular purpose; for having fixed it he strewed some grass over it, and then laid himself on it at his length for some minutes, with his face towards the sky. Every rite being performed, the party retired, some of the men first speaking in a menacing tone to the women, and telling Boo-roong not to eat any fish nor meat that day. We understood that at night two of the men were to sleep at the grave, but I have reason to think that they did not. Cole-be and Wat-te-wal were painted red and white over the breast and shoulders, and on this occasion were distinguished by the title of Moo-by; and we learned from them that while so distinguished they were to be very sparing in their meals.

They enjoined us on no account to mention the name of the deceased, a custom they rigidly attended to themselves whenever any one died; and in pursuance of this custom, Nan-bar-ray, one of whose names was Ba-loo-der-ry, had actually relinquished that, and obtained another name.

The ceremony of sleeping at the grave of the deceased, we knew, was observed by Bennillong after the death of his little child Dil-boong, he and two or three other natives passing the night in the governor's garden, not very far from the spot where it was buried.

Such were the ceremonies attendant on the interment of Ba-loo-derry. When Ba-rang-a-roo Da-ring-ha, Bennillong's wife, died, he determined at once to burn her, and requested Governor Phillip, Mr. White, and myself, to attend him. He was accompanied by his own sister Car-rang-ar-rang, Collins, Ca-ru-ey, Yem-mer-ra-wan-nie, and one or two other women.

Collins prepared the spot whereon the pile was to be constructed, by excavating the ground with a stick, to the depth of three or four inches, and on this part so turned up were first placed small sticks and light brushwood; larger pieces were then laid on each side of these; and so on till the pile might be about three feet in height, the ends and sides of which were thus formed of large dry wood, while the middle of it consisted of small twigs and branches, broken for the purpose and thrown together. When wood enough had been procured, some grass was spread over the pile, and the corpse, covered with an old blanket, was borne to it by the men, and placed on it with the head to the northward. A basket with the fishing apparatus and other small furniture of the deceased was placed by her side; and, Bennillong having laid some large logs of wood over the body, the pile was lighted by one of the party. Being constructed of dry wood, it was quickly all in a flame, and Bennillong himself pointed out to us a black smoke, which proceeded from the centre of the pile where the body lay, and signified that the fire had reached it.

We left the spot long before the last billet was consumed, and Bennillong appeared during the day more cheerful than we had expected, and spoke about finding a nurse from among the white women to suckle his child.

The following day he invited us to see him rake the ashes of his wife together, and we accompanied him to the spot, unattended by any of his own people. He preceded us in a sort of solemn silence, speaking to no one until he had paid Ba-rang-a-roo the last duties of a husband. In his hand he had the spear with which he meant to punish the car-rah-dy Wil-le-me-ring for non-attendance on his wife when she was ill, with the end of which he raked the calcined bones and ashes together in a heap. Then, laying the spear upon the ground, he formed with a piece of bark a tumulus that would have done credit to a well-practised grave-digger, carefully laying the earth round, smoothing every little unevenness, and paying a scrupulous attention to the exact proportion of its form. On each side the tumulus he placed a log of wood, and on the top of it deposited the piece of bark with which he had so carefully effected its construction. When all was done he asked us 'if it was good,' and appeared pleased when we assured him that it was.

His deportment on this occasion was solemn and manly; an expressive silence marked his conduct throughout the scene; in fact we attended him as silently, and with close observation. He did not suffer any thing to divert him from the business he had in hand, nor did he seem to be in the least desirous to have it quickly dispatched, but paid this last rite with an attention that did honour to his feelings as a man, as it seemed the result of an heartfelt affection for the object of it, of whose person nothing now remained but a piece or two of calcined bone. When his melancholy work was ended, he stood for a few minutes with his hands folded over his bosom, and his eye fixed upon his labours in the attitude of a man in profound thought. Perhaps in that small interval of time many ideas presented themselves to his imagination. His hands had just completed the last service he could render to a woman who, no doubt, had been useful to him; one to whom he was certainly attached (of many instances of which we had at different times been witness) and one who had left him a living pledge of some moments at least of endearment. Perhaps under the heap which his hands had raised, and on which his eyes were fixed, his imagination traced the form of her whom he might formerly have fought for, and whom he now was never to behold again. Perhaps when turning from the grave of his deceased companion, he directed all his thoughts to the preservation of the little one she had left him; and when he quitted the spot his anxiety might be directed to the child, in the idea that he might one day see his Ba-rang-aroo revive in his little motherless Dil-boong.

Cole-be's wife, who bore the same names as the deceased, lost them both on this occasion, and was called by every one Bo-rahng-al-le-on. This peculiarity was also observed by them with respect to a little girl of ours, of whom Ba-rang-a-roo was so fond as to call her always by her own name. On her decease she too was styled Bo-rahng-al-le-on.

Cole-be's wife, the namesake of the Ba-rang-a-roo I have just mentioned, did not survive her many months. She died of a consumption, brought on by suckling a little girl who was at her breast when she died. This circumstance led to the knowledge of a curious but horrid custom which obtains among these people. The mother died in the town, and when she was taken to the grave her corpse was carried to the door of every hut and house she had been accustomed to enter during the latter days of her illness, the bearers presenting her with the same ceremonies as were used at the funeral of Ba-loo-der-ry, when the little girl Dil-boong and the boy Be-dia were placed before his corpse.

When the body was placed in the grave, the bye-standers were amazed to see the father himself place the living child in it with the mother. Having laid the child down, he threw upon it a large stone, and the grave was instantly filled in by the other natives. The whole business was so momentary, that our people had not time or presence of mind sufficient to prevent it; and on speaking about it to Cole-be, be, so far from thinking it inhuman, justified the extraordinary act by assuring us that as no woman could be found to nurse the child it must die a much worse death than that to which he had put it. As a similar circumstance occurred a short time after, we have every reason to suppose the custom always prevails among them; and this may in some degree account for the thinness of population which has been observed among the natives of the country.*

[* Cole-be's child was about four or five months old, and seemed to have partaken of its mother's illness. I think it could not have lived.]

I have said that these women were namesakes. Bennillong's wife was called Ba-rang-a-roo Daring-ha; Cole-be's, Daring-ha Ba-rang-a-roo. A peculiarity in their language occurs to me in this place. The males of the same name call each other Da-me-li, the women call each other Da-me-li-ghen.

I have mentioned their taking particular names on certain occasions. The mutual friend who attends them to the field is styled Ca-bah-my; the persons who at their funerals are painted red and white, are named Moo-by; the namesake of a deceased person, if a male, is styled Bo-rahng; if a woman, Bo-rahn-gal-le-on. When Nor-roo-ing came into the town to acquaint us with the death of Yel-lo-way, she was perfectly a dismal sorrowing figure. She had covered herself entirely with ashes, was named while she continued so Go-lahng, and refused all kinds of sustenance.

The annexed Plate represents the burning of the corpse of a native who was killed by a limb of a tree falling on him. He was brought to the spot with all the preceding ceremonies. His head was laid to the northward, and in his hands were deposited his spear and his throwing-stick. His ashes were afterwards raked together, and a tumulus erected over them, similar to that which Bennillong had raised over his wife.