FL661478

which has led me to think as if some of
these corrobories must have originated in a religious
ceremony & superstitious practices. Their songs are [in margin: most monotonous and a few words or two & then I confess again & again repeated willy nilly make up their compositions. Yet there are occasional exceptions,]
Let me now describe to you a [crossed out: scene of death and]
funeral scene. And first I would mention
that [original text was crossed out] the Aborigines are so troubled
with the fear of death that they can hardly bear
to hear of it though they may in a corrobarie war rush
[crossed out: in to] most heedlessly into it. That careless & all
thoughtlessness & merry laughter [crossed out: with some Europeans have]
witnessed at times among the Aborigines [crossed out: and]
which has been admired by some Europeans and
pointed out as a proof of their happiness, all
lies only on the surface, is often interrupted by
many apprehensions even when there is nothing
to fear; but when serious illness [crossed out: attacks them]
befalls them & they are apprehensive of death
they yield themselves up to a despairing kind
of stupor & listlessness. Even when the chances
of recovery are in their favour, you can hardly per-
saude them to take medicine.

If any one dies they try to remove the subject of
death out of sight & out of mind as quickly as
possible. Scarcely is a man's breath departed
than they wrap up the body in an oppossum cloak
or similar coverings. On one occasion I prevented
a young man being buried alive. He had apparently
expired when the women commenced wrapping the
oppossum cloak around him, and I had to speak