the ghost may be thirsty, so
they obligingly leave a drinking vessel on the grave, that he may slake
his thirst. Also they deposit spears and other weapons on the spot,
together with a digging-stick, which is specially intended to ward off
evil spirits who may be on the prowl.[195] The ghosts of the natives on
the Maranoa river were also thirsty souls, so vessels full of water were
sometimes suspended for their use over the grave.[196] A custom of
lighting a fire on the grave to warm the poor shivering ghost seems to
have been not uncommon among the aboriginal Australians. The Western
Victorians, for example, kept up large fires all night for this
purpose.[197] In the Wiimbaio tribe two fires were kept burning for a
whole month on the grave, one to the right and the other to the left, in
order that the ghost might come out and warm himself at them in the
chill night air. If they found tracks near the grave, they inferred,
like the Dieri, that the perturbed spirit had quitted his narrow bed to
pace to and fro in the long hours of darkness; but if no footprints were
visible they thought that he slept in peace.[198] In some parts of
Western Australia the natives maintained fires on the grave for more
than a month for the convenience of the ghost; and they clearly expected
him to come to life again, for they detached the nails from the thumb
and forefinger of the corpse and deposited them in a small hole beside
the grave, in order that they might know their friend at his
resurrection.[199] The length of time during which fires were maintained
or kindled daily on the grave is said to have varied, according to the
estimation in which the man was held, from a few days to three or four
years.[200] We have seen that the Dieri laid food on the grave for the
hungry ghost to partake of, and the same custom was observed by the
Gournditch-mara tribe.[201] However, some intelligent old aborigines of
Western Victoria derided the custom as "white fellow's gammon."[202]

[Sidenote: Property of the dead buried with them.]

Further, in some tribes of South-eastern Australia it was customary to
deposit the scanty property of the deceased, usually consisting of a few
rude weapons or implements, on the grave or to bury it with him. Thus
the natives of Western Victoria buried all a dead man's ornaments,
weapons, and property with him in the grave, only reserving his stone
axes, which were too valuable to be thus sacrificed: these were
inheri