A NATIVE FUNERAL.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12482, 8 March 1909, Page 4

A NATIVE FUNERAL.

Sambo's death had been anticipated foi about a weekj whon the sounds of keening and sad death songs reached our ears frdni'the natives' camp. The o^l man had been in great agony .from icute . rheumatism for spine days, so m at the station, were not sorry'to know. that he had gone. The -natives buried him in the evening. Though riot •is a rule fond of gloomy .'spectacles, juriosity impelled me to take up a position from which I could keep the natiVes in. view. 'They /gathered ■ round . b'.b little shelter of bushes wbirh screened the corpse, then four of his tribesmen approached with a rougHymade litter. As this was done> the giris made, a simultaneous rush forward fo';.. 3- few paces, then threw themselvep, to tho ground, prying and shiieking'loiitily. and making the moat extravagant i I'tiures and contortions. The widow' was the central figure, and as the bearers lifted the litter she again rushecf after them and threw herself down with the wildest shrieks and groans. All the women then ran with uplifted hands till they reached her side, when they also fell with wildly waving hands and the most appalling accompaniment of funeral songs :and waling. The men followed the litter" chanting, and now and .then making mournful rhythmic -gestures, but their feelings were less violently expressed, and they certainly lil far less harm to their. persons" The distance to- the native cemetery was traversed inthis way, the men tramping steadily on, the women alternativelv°f ailing, and running afterthe men.. * The selected place being reached, the was scooped out m the*"sort damp s:.nd. The body was then lifted from v.-uneh in the meantime had been hoW : ing Sallie— the widow— who screamed and gesticulated wildly. As the men ••tnged themselves the gins released ?allie, who brandished a piece of glass in one hand and a. pointed stick in the otl-er.' With the glass -she gashed; her . bieast, while beating herself continuously with a stick". She rushed forward in d 'tried to "break through the ring of tr.en with the evident intention of throwng herself in the grave. -The men held her back, while all the qms fell on tlieirf aces, screaming and kicking the" sand violently. -It 'was a tableaux'of wildly waving limbs and conto? ted bodies. The- excitement grew. Several of the near of kin produced P'toes of glass and cut and gashed 1 tltmselves fearfully. At last, worn ouli by their exertions, and the grave ' being by this time covered in, the ' widow was! led away, and -the procession started back to camp, still wailiiU and crying mournfully.— , f--.i1.,. in the "Sydney Morning Herald.