WHITE BALLS ON TOMBS.
Beside them were, in some cases, casts also in lime or gypsum, which had evidently been taken from a head, the hair of which had been confined by a net, as the impression of it and some hairs remained inside. A native explained one day to Mr. Larmer, in a very simple manner, the meaning of the white balls, by taking a small piece of wood, laying it in the ground, and covering it with earth; then, laying his head on one side and closing his eyes, he showed that a dead body was laid in that position in the earth where these balls were placed above.*
(*Footnote. A singular coincidence with the ancient customs of Israel: "The Jews used to mark their graves with white lime that they might be known, that so priests, Nazarites, and travellers might avoid them, and not be polluted. They also marked their graves with white lime, and so also in their intermediate feast-days. They made use of chalk because it looked white like bones." Burder's Oriental Customs volume 2 page 232. It may be also remarked that a superstitious custom prevailed amongst the Gentiles in mourning for the dead. They cut off their hair, and that roundabout, and threw it into the sepulchre with the bodies of their relatives and friends; and sometimes laid it upon the face or the breast of the dead as an offering to the infernal gods, whereby they thought to appease them and make them kind to the deceased. See Maimonides de Idol c. 12 1. 2. 5.)
BALLS, AND CASTS OF A HEAD IN LIME, FOUND ON TOMBS.
AUSTRALIAN SHAMROCK.
On crossing the channel of the tributary which we had followed I found its bed broad, extensive, and moist, and in it two small ponds containing the first water besides that of the Darling seen by the party in tracing the course of this river nearly 200 miles. The rich soil in the dry bed was here beautifully verdant with the same fragrant trefoil which I saw on the 4th of June in crossing a lagoon, the bed of which was of the same description of soil. The perfume of this herb, its freshness and flavour, induced me to try it as a vegetable, and we found it to be delicious, tender as spinach, and to preserve a very green colour when boiled. This was certainly the most interesting plant hitherto discovered by us; for, independently of its culinary utility, it is quite a new form of Australian vegetation, resembling, in a striking manner, that of the south of Europe.* I endeavoured to preserve some of its roots by taking them up in the soil as the seed (a very small pea) was not ripe.
(*Footnote. Trigonella suavissima, Lindley manuscripts; caulibus porstratis, foliolis obcordatis cum dente interjecto subdentatis subtus pilosiusculis, stipulis semisagittatis aristato-dentatis trinerviis, umbellis paucifloris sessilibus, leguminibus falcatis reticulatis glabris.)
Finding that the minor river-course which had been at one time within half a mile of the Darling was again receding from that river, so that when I wished to encamp I saw no appearance of it within six miles, and that no more water could be seen in the dry channel, I crossed over and made for the Darling in a west-south-west direction.