CROCODILE CATCHING 277 



bye ; no come back ! Swim where cloud catch 'em sea. 

 Swim up-up-long way up ! You see now. Sit down up 

 there altogether. Dooey-dooey first time; two fella boy 

 come behind ! " 



Does not this stand comparison with that referred to 

 by the Scientific American in answering the question, 

 " Why do you refer to the Great Bear as feminine ? " We 

 must go back into the age of classical mythology for the 

 reason. It was known to the Egyptians, who called it 

 hippopotamus. The people of southern Europe saw in the 

 same stars the more familiar figure of a bear, and the 

 legends which grew up around it were finally given perma- 

 nent shape by Ovid in his Metamorphoses. As he tells 

 the story, Callisto, an Arcadian nymph, was beloved by 

 Jupiter. Juno, in fierce anger, turned her into a bear, 

 depriving her of speech that she might not appeal to 

 Jupiter. Her son, Areas, while hunting, came upon her, 

 and failing to recognise her in her metamorphosed form, 

 raised his bow to shoot. Jupiter, moved by pity, prevented 

 the matricide by transforming the son into a bear, and 

 took them both up to the heavens, where they were placed 

 among the constellations. 



CROCODILE CATCHING 



Though they have a wholesome dread of crocodiles 

 generally, the blacks of the Lower Tully River (some 5 

 miles down the coast) have, in a limited circle, the reputa- 

 tion of indulging in the sport of catching them for food. 

 Natives of the locality tell me that the last occasion of the 

 death of a crocodile in the manner to be described was 

 very many years ago. Some would have you believe the 

 practice is of common occurrence. The story goes 

 (though for its truth I do not vouch), that having located 

 a crocodile in a reach of the river when the tide has run 

 out, the blacks form a cordon across, and harry it by splash- 

 ing the water and maintaining a continuous commotion. 



