On
Removing One End Of Those Layers, Sheet After Sheet Of Dry Bark Was Taken
Out, Then Dry Grass And Leaves In A Perfect State Of Preservation, The
Wet Or Damp Having Apparently Never Penetrated Even To The First
Covering Of Wood.
We were obliged to suspend our operation for the
night, as the corpse became extremely offensive to the smell, resolving
to remove on the morrow all the earth from the top of the grave, and
expose it for some time to the external air before we searched farther.
July 30. - Employed in preparing dead cypress-trees for the timber of the
raft. The rain continued throughout the day without intermission. and
prevented us from making much progress with it. This morning we removed
all the earth from the tomb and grave, and found the body deposited
about four feet deep in an oval grave, four feet long and from eighteen
inches to two feet wide. The feet were bent quite up to the head, the
arms having been placed between the thighs. The face was downwards, the
body being placed east and west, the head to the east [Note: "Nay,
Cadwal, we must lay his head to the east; my father has a reason for
it." - CYMBELINE.].
It had been very carefully wrapped in a great number of oppossum skins,
the head bound round with the net usually worn by the natives, and also
the girdle: it appeared after being enclosed in those skins to have been
placed in a larger net, and then deposited in the manner before
mentioned.
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