LEGENDS OF LAKE EYRE TRIBES. 525 
TWO LEGENDS OF THE LAKE EYRE TRIBES. 
By A. W. Howitt ann Orro SIEBERT. 
For some years Mr. Howitt has, with the co-operation of the 
Rev. Otto Siebert, been engaged in investigating more 
critically the organisation, customs, and beliefs of the tribes 
which inhabit that part of Central Australia which more 
immediately surrounds Lake Hyre. 
In doing this a considerable number of legends have been 
obtained, which are connected with their initiation cere- 
monies and with those which relate to the increase of their 
food supply by magical means. The two now recorded relate 
to the actions of some of the human race which, according to 
the tribal belief, preceded them in Central Australia. These 
they call the ‘‘ Mura-muras,” who are the actors in the 
legends spoken of, who are represented as being in all 
respects like the present race, but of infinitely greater magical 
and supernatural power. 
One of the two legends speaks of the existence of animals 
called ‘‘ kadimarkaras,” which are said to have descended 
from the sky-land to the earth by means of the huge 
eucalyptus tree which then grew along the shores of Lake 
Hyre supporting the sky. 
One of the Mura-muras hunting for game came across a 
kadimarkara and killed it. Being unable to cook it or carry 
it to his camp he swallowed it raw and whole. This caused 
his body to change to that of a kadimarkara, which, the 
legend shows, was a huge reptile with a long tail. The Mura- 
mura in this form wended his way back to his home, forming 
the channel of the Cooper in his course, which is now the 
Cooper. He also named various places in his course, and 
finally reaching his home he, with his wife, who had also 
become a kadimarkara, sank into the earth and disappeared. 
The identity of the kadimarkaras with some of the Mura- 
muras is Shown by certain of the food ceremonies which are 
held where one of these creatures is believed to be still exist- 
ing; in fact, being one of the fossilised extinct creatures 
which have been found in some places near Lake Hyre. The 
legend either has been built up to account for the existence 
of the fossils, or, presumably, may be a survival of a 
memory of the time when the blackfellows’ ancestors hunted 
them when they still lived in the then marshy trails of the 
Lake Eyre deltas. 
The second legend accounts for certain physical features 
of the Cooper, particularly of a rock-hole at the place 
