16 



and would not do what lie told them ; he then made them yery 

 ill, and plenty died, but some got better. "Dawed" then 

 caught some geese, and told blackfellows to eat them, but 

 some old women refused, saying the geese were no good; 

 " Dawed " then made the first spears, and speared the old 

 women in the legs, when a strange blackfellow called " Shares " 

 appeared, helped the old women, and took them to his own 

 country called " Tooparanlah ;" "Dawed" followed him, and 

 demanded the women back again, which was refused. " Shares" 

 and these women had plenty of children, which now form the 

 " Woolwangah" tribe, inhabiting the country between Southport 

 and Pine Creek. " Shares " was a bad man, and when he died 

 turned into a large stone in the Pine Creek country. This stone 

 the natives state is situated on a large creek, and is much feared 

 by them. They say any one touching it will soon die. 



" Dawed," when he found he could not get the women back 

 again from " Shares," went to " Lingowah," a place on the 

 Adelaide Eiver, where he saw a beautiful young girl called 

 " Abmahdam." He liked her, but she refused to go with him ; 

 he then sent something from his own person which had the 

 appearance of a snake. This fetched the girl to him, and he 

 had intercourse with her. 



" Dawed " then w^ent back to his own country, and the girl 

 remained on the Adelaide Eiver, where, in course of time, she 

 had plenty of babies, who grew up and now form the 

 " "Woolnah " tribe on the Adelaide Eiver. 



" Abmahdam " afterwards died, and turned into a tree at a 

 place on the Adelaide Eiver called " Layliiyloo." "Dawed," 

 after making all about blackfellow, died and also turned into a 

 tree on the Adelaide Eiver at a place called " Ahlee ahlee." 

 These trees, the natives assert, are still growing on the Adelaide 

 Eiver, and are much reverenced, for "Dawed " and "Abmah- 

 dam " have been good people. Near the place where " Dawed " 

 turned into a tree, when he died, there is a large waterhole 

 highly reverenced by the natives, who believe that sick persons 

 bathing in this water get cured. " Dawed " also taught all the 

 blackfellows how to make the different kinds of weapons and 

 all the other things which blackfellows are now making. 



" Tsanganburrah," who lives in the ground, is designated 

 " all same G^overnment." He can read and write, and when 

 blackfellows growl Mrite it down in a book. When black- 

 fellows die they go down into the ground to " Xangauburrah," 

 and if they have been good, which is ascertained by referring 

 to the book, " Nanganburrah" gives them a letter to give to 

 " Manganirrah," with whom they then live among the stars. 

 If they have been bad and growled they are sent to a place 

 deep down in the ground called " Ohmar," where there is 



