ARTICLES OF FOOD.

The food of the aborigines consists chiefly of fish and shellfish, to which as subsidiary articles may be added lizards, snakes, possums, various birds, and an occasional kangaroo, turtle, dugong, or porpoise.  Several roots (one of which is a true yam) together with various fruits in their seasons—­especially a cashew-nut or Anacardium, also the base of the undeveloped central leaves of the cabbage-palm, are much prized.  The digging up of roots and collecting of shellfish are duties which devolve upon the females.

Before the arrival of Europeans, in cases of remarkable disease or accident, certain old men known by the name of bilbo (by which cognomen the medical officers of the settlement have also been distinguished) were applied to for advice.  I know of no popular remedies, however, with the exception of tight ligatures near a wound, bruise or sore, the object of which is to prevent the malady from passing into the body.  In like manner for a headache, a fillet is bound tightly across the forehead.  These people, like most other savages, recover in a most surprising manner from wounds and other injuries which would probably prove fatal to a European.  The chief complaint to which they are subject is a mild form of ophthalmia, with which I once saw three-fourths of the natives about the settlement affected in one or both eyes; they themselves attributed this affection to the lurgala, or cashew-nut, then in season, the acrid oil in the husk of which had reached their eyes.

BURIAL CEREMONIES.

On the death of any one of the natives, the relatives give utterance to their grief in loud cries, sobs, and shrieks, continued to exhaustion.  Some cut their bodies and tear their hair, and the women paint their faces with broad white bands.  The body is watched by night, and the appearance of the first falling-star is hailed with loud shouts and waving of fire-brands, to drive off the yumburbar, an evil spirit which is the cause of all deaths and other calamities, and feeds on the entrails of the newly dead.  When decomposition has gone on sufficiently far, the bones are carefully removed, painted red, wrapped up in bark, and carried about with the tribe for some time; after which they are finally deposited, either in a hollow tree or a shallow grave, over which a low mound of earth and stones is raised, occasionally ornamented with posts at the corners.  I was unable to find out what circumstances determine the mode of burial in each case; neither differences of sex, age, or class are sufficient, as several natives whom I questioned told me which of the two kinds of burial his or her body would receive, without being able to assign any reason.  Their reverence for the dead is probably not very great, as even a relative of the deceased will sell the skull or skeleton for a small consideration, on condition of the matter being kept a secret.

SUPERSTITIONS.

Like other Australians they carefully refrain from mentioning the name of anyone who is dead, and like them, believe in the transmigration of souls—­after death they become Malays (the first strangers they had come in contact with) in precisely the same way as in New South Wales, etc.  “When black fellow die, he jump up white-fellow.”