1

Sale 22 May 1897

Dear Sir

With respect to the localities in which
the various aboriginal forms of disposal of the dead were
met with, the 1st, 2nd, + 4th were in the country south of
Adelaide between Gulf St Vincent on the east and the River
Murray, Lake Alexandrina, and Goolwa on the west. Within
three boundaries there were as nearly as I could judge - three
distinct tribes, sometimes friends but often at "war". It
was at Xmas 1848 shortly after my arrival in the colony
I took a walk down to Encounter Bay to see an old English
friend who had settled there. After passing Willunga
settlers were few and far between, only one hut between
that place and the Police Station at the Bay. My friend was
in a quandary about his harvest, as he depended on the blacks,
and they for several days had disappeared. On the evening
of the second day of my visit they returned bringing with them
the body of the old chief which they set up in the form
as described in No 4. It was too near the house to be
pleasant so after two or three days at the bidding of the
policeman he was removed into the bush where the
operation was confined. What finally became of the body
after it was thoroughly smoke dried I never found out.
Shortly after while crossing the bush from Encounter Bay to
Currency Creek (about 15 or 16 miles) I took refuge in a tree
from a heavy shower and there saw No 1. From my
Currency Creek friend I learned that they were very common
about there, so much so that almost every hollow tree had been
utilized. The tribes along the Gulf coast about Aldinga
Yankalilla + down to Cape Jerves seemed to prefer the
open stage form (No 2) and these were very numerous
sometimes as many as three together each with two or three
bodies, or rather skeletons. Neither of these methods were
practiced by the Torrens (Adelaide) tribes. The principal
burying place I knew of was [between - crossed out] near Walkerville.