Journals Of Expeditions Of Discovery Into Central Australia And Overland From Adelaide To King George's Sound In The Years 1840-1: Sent By The Colonists Of South Australia By Eyre, Edward John
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At This Ceremony Many Other Natives Of Both Sexes,
And Of All Ages Were Standing Looking On; But So Little Did They
Commiserate The Poor Creature's Sufferings, That The Degree Of Her Pain
Only Seemed To Be The Measure Of Their Laughter And Merriment.
The girls, however, are always anxious to have this ceremony performed,
as a well tattooed back is considered a
Great addition to their other
charms, and whenever I have offered to protect them from the cruelty of
their tribe for refusing to submit to it, they have invariably preferred
submitting to the operation.
The only other ceremonies undergone by the females, are those of having
the belly or arms tattooed, and of having the hair plucked from the pubes
after the death of a child, and sometimes from other causes.
In the mode of disposing of the dead, and the ceremonials attending it,
there is a difference in almost every tribe. Among the Adelaide natives
as soon as a person dies, a loud wailing cry is raised by the relations
and friends. The body is immediately wrapped up in the skin or clothing
worn during life, and in the course of a day or two, it is placed upon
the wirkatti or bier, which is made of branches crossed so as to form the
radii of a circle, an examination is then entered upon as to the cause of
death, in the following manner. The bier is carried upon the shoulders of
five or six persons, over places where the deceased had been living;
whilst this is going on, a person is placed under the bier, professedly
in conversation with the deceased.
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