gs
23:16, 1 Kings 13:2 and Isaiah 23:15-17.)

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.)

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
the