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if quite smooth, in the middle of which
the grave was beginning to be dug. The ground
being very hard, it was no easy task, but
the men did it by turns. They used hoes
spades & c borrowed from the Missionary Station.
With their own original tools, it would have
taken them much more time to finish the grave.
The number of Blacks present was considerable,
from 60 to 80. But all were employed in
one thing or other. Many were cutting down
little trees & boughs, while others [words crossed out]
made a fence of them round the circle,
to guard the grave against the cattle as-
sailing it, - an improvement acquired
from Europeans. The women were chiefly em-
ployed in keeping up the fires round the
corpse, causing constantly a thick smoke
to ascend. Others, and indeed nearly all of
them, paid their last respects to the deceased,
by dismal howlings & grievous lamentations,
frequently falling over the corpse. All the time
one of the men sat, as a watch, close to the head
of the deceased. The finishing of the grave took
several hours. They did it very neatly, as smooth
and regular as possible. The shape was oval,