relative, the tent posts are
torn up immediately after the man has expired, and the tent is
demolished. Travels in Arabia page 58.)

As she proceeded the men became more and more excited, and at last
Moondee, the most violent of them, started forward and was on the point
of spearing one of Mulligo's wives; none of the men attempted to
interfere with him; but, as I anticipated, the women seized him, and held
him, so as to prevent him from executing his purpose. This conduct on his
part at first appeared to me to arise from passion alone, but the reason
of it was soon explained.

SUPPOSED CAUSE OF HIS DECEASE.

It appears that some two or three months before this period Weenat, a
native of the upper part of the Swan, had stolen a cloak belonging to
Miago, Mulligo's brother, and had, according to their belief, from
malicious motives given this cloak to one of the native sorcerers, or
boyl-yas, who by this means acquired some mysterious power over either
Miago or his brother, but selected the latter for his victim, when he
fell and broke his back. Another of these boyl-yas (according to the
usual custom) was called in to give his advice, and he applied fire to
the injured part. This treatment not succeeding, and the poor fellow
wasting daily away, the natives became convinced that the unfriendly
boyl-yas were in the habit of rendering themselves invisible, and nightly
descending for the purpose of feasting on poor Mulligo's flesh whilst he
slept, and being under the influence of a charm he was not aware of what
was taking place; but Moondee chose to imagine that if his wife had been
more vigilant the boyl-yas might have been detected, and hence intended
to spear her in the leg as a punishment for her imputed neglect.

As I have before stated the women prevented this outrage from having
effect, and the two trembling girls, neither of whom could have been more
than fifteen, fled into Perth, to take refuge in some European's house.
The native men and women, after their departure, indulged in the most
unlimited abuse of boyl-yas in general, and of the Guildford boyl-yas in
particular, against whom, according to the idea of the natives, they had
very strong presumptive evidence from the circumstance of the cloak
having been stolen by a Guildford man. It was still very doubtful what
boyl-yas were the actual perpetrators of the crime, so they were
contented with vowing to kill a great many of them in some direction or
the oth