‘ 
1825.)2° 
round her neck ; but no sooner was it 
there than the neck-lace changed to a 
venomous serpent, which incessantly 
clung to her, and devoured every thing 
that she carried to her mouth; so that - 
at last she died of starvation, and was 
buried within the tomb just alluded to. 
Skoite. 
At a small distance from Gudman- _ 
stoup,. in Oddoherred, is a_ hillock 
called Hiulehoi. The elfins, who in- 
habit this hill, are well known in the 
villages round about ; and most people 
place a cross upon their ale-barrels, in 
order to secure them from the attacks 
of the pigmies, who are exceedingly 
fond of ale. Late one evening, a coun- 
tryman came past Hiulehoi, and per- 
ceived that it was lifted from the 
ground, and supported upon wooden 
piles, while beneath it was a magnifi- 
cent elfin banquet, with music and 
daneing. The countryman stood still, 
in order to view the revel, and as he, 
Was wondering at every thing he saw, 
.the music ceased, the dance stopped, 
and, in the midst of a horrible outcry, 
an elf exclaimed, “ Skotte is fallen into 
the fire, come and help him out.” The 
hillock immediately sunk down to the 
earth, and nothing more was to be 
seen. 
In the mean time the peasant’s wife 
remained at home, and as she sat busied 
in spinning flax, she did not perceive 
that an eif had crept, through the win- 
dow, into the next chamber, and was 
standing by an  ale-barrel, which, not 
‘being secured by a cross, he had tapped; 
and was drawing off its contents into a 
large leathern bucket. The door was 
open, and the elf had his eye fixed on 
the woman. Just then her husband 
came home, extremely surprised at 
what he had lately seen. “ Now, wife,” 
said he, “I will tell you what has hap- 
pened to me.” The elf in the other 
room listened attentively. “ As I was 
coming past Hiulehoi,” continued the 
man, “I saw an elfin festival, when all 
of a sudden one of the dwarfs cried 
out, ‘ Skotte is tumbled into the fire, 
come and help him up.’ ” The elf by 
the ale-barrel no sooner heard the 
man repeat these last words than he 
was so frightened, that he flung down 
his bucket, left the tap running, and 
scoured away out of the window ; at 
the noise he made, the man and his 
wife rushed into the room, just in time 
to get a glimpse of him; but they had 
time enough to mourn for the ale with 
which the floor was flooded, 
Monruty Mac. No. 416. 
Voyage to Australia, &c. 
297 
Mr. Henry Ennts’s Journal of a Voyage 
to New SoutH Watrs, AusTRALIA, 
Port Essincron, Arstey STratts, 
iC. 
§ ‘(Continued from p. 221.) 
E their persons the natives of these 
islands are generally above the mid- 
dle size; their limbs straight and well . 
formed. They are more actively than 
strongly made, the stoutest amongst 
them having but little muscle. Their 
activity is astonishing ; and they bound 
through the woods with the lightness 
and celerity of a deer. Their colour is 
nearly black ; their hair coarse, but not 
woolly: they tie it, occasionally, on the 
back of the head; and several of them 
had daubed their heads and bodies with 
red and yellow pigment. They were al- 
most all marked with a kind of tattoo; 
generally in three lines, the centre one 
going directly down the body, from the 
neck to the navel; the others drawn from 
the outside of the breast, and approach- 
ing the perpendicular line, at the bottom. 
The skin appeared to have been cut for 
the purpose of admitting some substance 
under it, and then bound down until 
healed, leaving small raised marks on 
the surface. The men were entirely 
naked; but some women whom we saw 
on Bathurst Island, at a little distance, 
wore mats, made of plaited grass, or 
shreds of the fan palm-leaf, fastened 
round the waist, and covering them 
nearly as far as the knee. 
Their arms are the spear and the 
waddy : the former is a light shaft, well 
hardened with fire, about nine or ten, 
feet long; those we saw generally had. 
a smooth sharp point, but they have 
others which are barbed, and are deadly, 
weapons. Some of these were thrown, 
at us, one of whichis preserved by Cap-. 
tain Bremer. It is very ingeniously. 
made; the. barbs, seventeen in number, 
being cut out of the solid wood, the 
edges and points being exceedingly 
sharp, but the barbs on one side of the 
spear only; and as they have no iron: 
implements or tools, it is wonderful how 
they can contrive to produce such a 
weapon. Having met but with few of 
these barbed spears, it is probable that, 
rom the time and labour bestowed on- 
making them, they are not in general 
use, and are reserved for close combat, 
or for extraordinary occasions.. . te 
The waddy, or short pointed stick, is, 
from twenty-two to twenty-eight inches, 
long; and is evidently used as a weapon 
in close fight, as well as for bringing 
down birds, or animals for food; and: 
2Q they 
~ 
