bodies of such as had passed the middle age were
privileged to be disposed of in the manner referred to,
and which is hence to be esteemed the more honourable mode of sepulture. The bodies of young people
were buried in the ordinary way, or otherwise disposed
of, according to the custom of the tribe, such as by
placing the corpse, enveloped in folds of bark, on a
raised hurdle, or across the limbs of a tree. Sometimes
a portion of the weapons or utensils of the
deceased, as a basket, spear, and fizgig, were buried
along with the corpse. In connection with this branch
of aboriginal customs one of the worst features in the
character of the New Hollander is brought to light.
This is the crime of child-murder, accompanied with
the extreme of barbarity. When an infant happens
to be deprived of its mother by death, it appears that
it is no uncommon thing to bury the living infant in
the same grave with its deceased parent; the reason
alleged by the perpetrators for the cruel act is that
the infant being bereaved of its natural nurse, and
other females being adverse to take it under their
guardianship, its life would be a course of lingering
misery worse than death itself. The existence of
this species of infanticide was first made known in the
early days of colonization by a party of officers who
witnessed the interment of a female, whose surviving
infant was thus interred by the father, the work of
death being gone through ere the Europeans, who were
previously unacquainted with the intent, had time to
interpose their influence to save the little victim.
Page:The aborigines of Australia.djvu/101
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88
THE ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA.