no Records of the S.A. Museum 



Witchity grub (an edible caterpillar). The third Muramura was Jelka- 

 baluhahma, alsn ])revi(iiisl}- referred tn as the deniignd nf an edible bulb. 



When the Aluranuiras arose from the earth there were no edible plants, 

 so the}' in\(jked the aid of the Min\a. and iminediateh' the earth bronght forth 

 a vegetable, but only one kind, and each particular plant desired had to be 

 specially petitioned for; in the same manner the birds, animals, edible reptiles, 

 insects and seeds were increased, and e\en rain, wind, water, heat, cold, etc., 

 were obtained l:)y suijplication. All thinti^s were named by the Muraniuras. 

 who associated with them some characteristic peculiarit}' : the names of 

 animals, etc.. have reference to their co\-erinsjs, fur, feathers, scales, or colour, 

 shape, or habit. Useful trees, shrul:)S, herbs and grasses received distinguish- 

 ing names. The Aluraniura also named each place he cam|)ed at. perpetuating 

 some feature he noticed, as, for example, Ka])araniara ( Kop])eramanna ), 

 ka])ara meaning root and mara hand. The Muramura noticed that the roots 

 of se\-eral of the trees were exposed owing to the wash of flood waters, and 

 thus the- roots appeared to him lilce a hand supported on the finger tips: or. 

 again. Jidnaminka (Innamincka) meaning you are in a hole: Jidna l)eing you 

 and niinka a hole, and has reference to one of the legends. 



When the Aluramnra apj^ealed to the Mura for some ])articular favour 

 he adorned his bod_\- with coloured stripes and other marks, using special 

 distinguishing ornaments, generallv on the head, signifying the oliject peti- 

 tioned for, and his actions and songs related to that special object onlw These 

 ornamentations, actions and songs ha\-e been carefull}' handed down fr(jm 

 father to son of the famih- of the [particular Muramura using theiu. but the 

 natives ha\-e forgotten that the ]ietition was originally addressed to the Mura, 

 and in their corroborees they now invoke the aid of the Muraniuras. 



On the death of a Muramura — some of them died froiu natural causes 

 and others were killed in fights or murdered — his liod}' usually turned into 

 stone which was often smeared with red ochre and always \enerated b_\- his 

 jiarticular descendants. So also the sun and moon and sonie of the constella- 

 tions were regarded as al)odes of de])arted Muraniuras. Some of them are 

 also belie\'ed to exist at the jiresent day in the form of trees. 



In many respects the Muraniuras of the Lake l-'.}-re tribes corres]iond to a 

 similar class of legendary beings, the .Mcheringa ancestors of the dream, or 

 far-away times, from whom the .\runta nati\es lielieve themselves to be 

 descended. 



Explanation, .\fter the plates were arranged for reproduction it was 

 found that in several instances some ]>articular localit}- is represented by two 

 or more Toas : numbers 92, 19.3, and 300 all refer to the place Mardallniru 



