2-979-057 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Sketches in Australia - Aboriginal Mode of the Disposal of the Dead, 1857. '...the corpse is placed on a platform of wickerwork, attached to poles, and raised to a considerable height above the ground, so as to prevent the native dogs (a species which resembles a mixture of the wolf and jackal) from getting at the body, and devouring it...It should be observed that the vultures which are seen descending on the corpse are regarded as friendly visitants. No impediment is presented to their consuming the body, but rather an invitation is given by the exposure of the dead to their voracious appetites...The natives...are fast disappearing, through the ravages of intoxication and disease, combined with occasional warfare; and but a few years more will suffice for the now scanty population to become extinct'. From "Illustrated London News", 1857.