42 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



piperita, E. ohliqua, and the lowland form of the Spotted Gum, 

 JE. goniocalyx. These eucalypts form a group of lowland forms 

 which are seen elsewhere to ascend into the cool and moist 

 valleys on the southern sides of the mountains of Gippsland. 

 E. sieberiana ascends to the source of one branch of Nigothoruk 

 Creek, where, in the saddle which connects Mt. Wellington 

 proper with the plains to the north of it, it forms a dense sapling 

 scrub at an elevation of about 4,500 feet above sea level. 



A. W. HOWITT. 



ABORIGINAL LEGENDS. 



The Legend of the Musk Crow and the Eagle Hawk. 



Bunjil, the Eagle Hawk, determined to leave the earth, and to 

 go up with his people to the sky. He said to Bellin Bellin, the 

 Musk Crow, " Go and get some wind." So Bellin Bellin got a 

 bag of kangaroo skin, and filled it with whirlwinds. Then 

 Bunjil, holding on to his great spear, which he had thrust into the 

 ground, said " Let some out." Bellin BeUin did so, and the 

 whirlwind tore trees out of the ground, but could not move 

 Bunjil, who said " Let out some more." Accordingly Bellin 

 Bellin opened his bag and let out all the whirlwinds at once, and 

 Bunjil and all his people were carried up into the sky, where they 

 have remained ever since. 



The Legend of the Echidna and the Thunder. 



Thadagun, a wrinkled sorceress, long ago stole a child and hid 

 it in the fastnesses of the mountains in a great rock. Bunjil, the 

 Eagle Hawk (compare " Bird of Jove "), knowing of this wicked- 

 ness, called his people together, and ordered Krauun, the Spiny 

 Anteater (Echidna), to smash the rock with its thunder. Krauun 

 did this, and the thunder having smashed the rock, and at the 

 same time killed Thadagun, Bunjil restored the child to its parents, 

 and told the people to observe what happened to evil-doers. 



This tale was current in the Yarra tribe. In Gippsland it was 

 said that Krauun, the Echidna, had married the daughter of Gworun, 

 the Thunder. Gworun was thought to be a female. According 

 to aboriginal custom a man cannot look at, speak to, or indeed 

 have any communication with his wife's mother. Hence it is, say 

 the aboriginals, that the Echidna burrows in the ground when it 

 hears the thunder. 



The Story of How the Boukan Stole the Fire of the 

 Kumai Tribe. 



Boukan was believed by the Gippsland Kumai to be a super- 

 natural being of whom several stories are told. Boukan had a 

 son called Bulumtut. It is said that long ago Boukan had a 



