1 OG A USTRALIA N ABORIGINES. 



warriors went to the front, and, witli the whole tribe at their back, approached 

 the animal. They asked if he was a whitefellow, and requested him to give 

 them the tomahawks he carried on his head ; whereupon the astonished bullock 

 pawed the ground, bellowed, shook his head, and charged. This so terrified the 

 ' braves ' that they fled headlong, and in their precipitate retreat upset men, 

 women, and children, and broke their spears. The natives afterwards told this 

 stoiy with great glee. It used to be narrated in a very humorous way by 

 Gnaweeth, who was mentioned in a previous chapter, and afforded the women 

 many a laugh at the expense of the men. It was also told more recently by 

 Weeratt Kuuyuut, when he was considerably over seventy years of age ; and he 

 described it as having occurred when he was a newly married man, which makes 

 the date of the incident to have been about 1821 or '22. 



THE FIRST FORMATION OF WATERHOLES. 



One very dry season, when there was no water in all the country, and the 

 animals were perishing of thirst, a magpie lark and a gigantic crane consulted 

 together. They could not understand how it was that a turkey bustard of their 

 acquaintance was never thirsty ; and, knowing that he would not tell them 

 where his supply of water was obtained from, they resolved to watch and find 

 out where he drank. They flew high into the air, and saw him go to a flat 

 stone. Before lifting the stone, the turkey, afraid oi his treasure being 

 discovered, looked up and saw the two birds, but they were so high, and kept so 

 steady, that he took them for small clouds. He lifted the stone, therefore, and 

 drank from a spring running out of a cleft in a rock. When he replaced the 

 stone and flew away, the two spies came down and removed it, and took a drink 

 and a bath, remarking, 'King gnakko gnal' — 'We have done him.' They 

 flapped their wings with joy, and the water rose till it formed a lake. They 

 then flew all over the parched country, flapping their wings and forming water- 

 holes, which have been drinking-places ever since. 



THE TORTOISE AND THE SNAKE. 



Long ago the tortoise was a venomous beast, and bit people while they were 

 drinking at waterholes and streams. To avoid being bitten, they adopted the 

 plan of scooping up the water with their hands and throwing it into their 



