in others I have witnessed the following ceremony:--The grave being dug,
the body was laid out near it, on a triangular bier (birri), stretched
straight on the back, enveloped in cloths and skins, rolled round and
corded close, and with the head to the eastward; around the bier were
many women, relations of the deceased, wailing and lamenting bitterly,
and lacerating their thighs, backs, and breasts, with shells or flint,
until the blood flowed copiously from the gashes. The males of the tribe
were standing around in a circle, with their weapons in their hands, and
the stranger tribes near them, in a similar position, imparting to the
whole a solemn and military kind of appearance. After this had continued
for some time, the male relatives closed in around the bier, the mourning
women renewed their lamentations in a louder tone, and two male relatives
stepped up to the bier, and stood across the body, one at the head, and
one at the foot, facing each other.

Having cut above the abdomen the strings binding the cloths which were
wound round the body, they proceeded to cut a slit of about ten inches
long, through the swathing cloths above the belly; through this opening,
they removed the arms, which appeared to have been crossed there, laying
them down by the sides, inside the wrappings (for no part was unwound);
having warmed a handful of green boughs over a fire, they thrust them in
through the opening in the cloths, upon the naked belly of the corpse;
after a little while these were removed, and one of their sorcerers made
an incision of about eight inches long in the abdomen. Having pulled out
the entrails and peritoneum, they were turned over, and carefully
examined, whilst the women kept wailing and cutting [Note 81 at end
of para.] themselves more violently than before, and even the men
themselves lamented aloud. When this had been continued for some time,
a portion of the omentum was cut off, wrapped in green leaves, and then
put carefully away in a bag. The entrails were now replaced, a handful