further inquiry from another man who was present, is very characteristic of their beliefs.
This man said: "We were at the Snowy River, and one of the old men died. We dug a hole in the river bank, and as we were putting him into it we thought that he moved. We were all much frightened and all fell back except old Nukong, who stood forward and said, 'What are you doing that for? What are you trying to frighten us for?' We rammed up the hole with wood and stones and earth and went away."
One of the Ya-itma-thang tribe went to Gippsland with one of my correspondents in the early days of settlement. He died there, and was buried in his full dress—head-band, nose-peg, waist-belt, and apron, or, more properly, a kind of kilt of kangaroo skin strands.[1]
By the Ngarigo the body was tied up tightly, with the knees bent and the arms crossed. It was buried either simply rolled up naked, or in other cases dressed in full male ornament, with the belt and Bridda-bridda on, and painted with pipeclay. The weapons, implements, and Bridda-bridda, if the latter was not put on, were buried with the body, and as they said, the "Bulabong (spirit or ghost) went into the scrub." They had the same belief as the Kulin, that the ghost remained in the bush for a time killing game, making camps, and lighting fires—in fact, continuing its former mode of existence. But in this the Bulabong was better off than the Mrarts or Kurnai ghosts, who were said to live on sow-thistles.
The Ngarigo practice was to cross a river after burying a body, to prevent the ghost following them. An instance of this came under my notice. A leading man of that tribe died at the Snowy River, and was buried there. The survivors, who had camped not far away, were much alarmed in the night by what they supposed to be the ghost of the deceased prowling about the camp—as one of the men said, "coming after his wife."
The Wolgal were very particular in burying everything belonging to a dead man with him; spears and nets were
- ↑ The kilt worn by the men.—J. Buntine.
