encampment accompanied by the youngest of his wives, and both Bun-ger-ring and this woman were sick and feeble. They had caught cold, and were suffering from low fever. Mr. Thomas got medical aid, and the young woman recovered, but old Bun-ger-ring died. At the funeral the young widow was inconsolable. She burnt and mutilated herself very much. She mourned Bun-ger-ring's death for many days, refused food, and sat daily and nightly moaning plaintively. She stated boldly that she would starve herself to death and follow Bun-ger-ring; and sixteen days after his death she too was buried. The wife of Ning-er-ra-noul, of the Western Port tribe, sickened and died when her husband was taken away from her. She survived him but a few days. King Benbow, well known in Melbourne in 1848, whose wife was with him always, and was always clinging fondly to him, literally died on his grave, from which she could not be got away. Native men have shown the same great grief when their wives have been removed by death. A great man of the Yarra tribe, whose wife died at the foot of Mount Disappointment, was so much afflicted that he too died two days after, and was buried in the same grave with her.
As an instance of the strong affection which men show towards each other, when trouble and affliction overtake them, and when they have jointly to share the burden, Mr. Thomas has recorded the case of two Portland Bay blacks, who were imprisoned in the gaol in Melbourne many years ago. Up to the time of their imprisonment they kept together, and clung to each other as newly-caught wild animals are seen to keep together when caged. During the period they were in gaol one of them fell sick, and was separated from his companion, and finally he died. When Mr. Thomas communicated the tidings to the friend of the deceased, he, though apparently in good health, felt the stroke so keenly that he too sickened and died almost immediately. His body, cold and stiff, was found in his cell the morning after he had received the tidings.
A number of cases of the like kind could be given: but enough has been adduced to show that the Australian—in his domestic relations; in his dealings with friends; in his intercourse with strangers; in his ceremonious reception of ambassadors; in his sorrows; in his lamentations for relatives departed; in his strong affections, as well as in his hatreds—is altogether like ourselves, when we are on our best behaviour, and not grimacing and attitudinizing, and making a pretence of sorrow when there is no grief, and simulating joy when there is no real cause for rejoicing. The Aboriginal is indeed usually very sorry when he exhibits any tokens of sorrow; and he is glad, beyond anything he can himself exhibit of gladness, when there is occasion for the expression of such a feeling. In this he is childish; but it must be remembered that he has not had eighteen hundred years of civilization, and is still in the state he was created.
Life during the Four Seasons.
The tract of land owned by each tribe was well known to every member; as well known and as accurately defined as if the metes and bounds of it had been set out by a surveyor. In most cases the area was very large, and presented different aspects during the several seasons of the year. In the months of June,
