They will even EAT a little piece of
the dead body, just as a mark of love. But generally speaking, it is
only their _enemies_ they eat, and they _do_ eat them whenever they can
kill them. There are a great many tribes of natives, and they look upon
one another as enemies. If a man of one tribe dare to come, and hunt in
the lands of another tribe, he is immediately killed, and his body is
eaten.
The bodies of dear friends--are treated with great honor, placed for some
weeks on a high platform, and then buried. Mothers prize highly the dead
bodies of their children. A traveller met a poor old woman wandering in
search of roots, with a stick for digging in her hand, and with no other
covering than a little grass mat. On her back she bore a heavy load. What
was it? The dead body of her child,--a boy of ten years old; this burden
she had borne for three weeks, and she thought she showed her love, by
keeping it near her for so long a time. Alas! she knew nothing of the
immortal spirit, and how, when washed in Jesus' blood, it is borne by
angels into the presence of God.
But though these savages are so wicked, and so wild, they have their
amusements. Dancing is the chief amusement. At every full moon, there is
a grand dance, called the Corrobory. It is the men who dance, while the
women sit by and beat time. Nothing can be more horrible to see than a
Corrobory. It is held in the night by the light of blazing fires.
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