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natives as to their significance. Of equal interest is the native 
folk-lore, which is often connected with certain physical features 
of the land. Gosse’s Waterhole, on the Marryat, is known to 
the natives as Würmikattidinji—a word which draws attention 
to the fact, so far as lore goes, that the waterhole is inhabited by 
a huge snake, which, however, no native remembers having ever 
seen. Mr. Carruthers, in making reference to the scarcity of 
native camps at Ernabella Spring, in the Musgrave Ranges, 
states* :—'* We found very few old native camps at this place, 
the reason being, from what I could gather from the blacks, 
. . . . a superstitious dread of ‘cootachies’ (devils), who, 
they imagine, inhabit the waters and caves in this locality." 
Pastimes.—The native mind is not without constructive 
reasoning for the entertainment of his children during his leisure. 
Kurrekapinnya Soakage, in the Ayers Ranges, has evidently 
been a favorite camping ground of the natives when other 
surface-waters in the neighborhood have become dry. The very 
numerous designs sketched upon the roofs and walls of the 
shelters close by more than support this statement. It was at 
this native soakage well that a smooth track running for some 
distance down the inclined surface of a bare granitic outcrop at 
once attracted my attention, the cause of which, however, was 
not at first obvious ; but my curiosity on this point was satisfied 
at sundown, when a little native girl called Unnrubinna, in the 
company of her mother, made her way to the well, and, while 
the adult was engaged in collecting water to take to her camp, 
the girl seized a bundle of rushes and, in all haste, made for the 
top of the track. Sitting down upon the rock, and placing the 
rushes underneath her, she began a slide down the incline of 
gneiss the pace of which gradually increased right down to the 
soft bed of sand at the base of the hill. The track, therefore, 
represented a native “ toboggan.” The girl continued playing in 
this manner for a considerable length of time, and I think the 
smoothness of the rock along this track may, without doubt, be 
ascribed to the effects of the continual abrasion produced in this 
manner for many years past. We have thus an instance of 
contemporaneous evolution of sport, when one considers the 
similarity of this pastime of the natives to the practice of 
sliding down staircase railings and inclined embankments by the 
children of the civilised world. (See Plate X., fig. 2.) 
Other Peculiarities.— Аз regards rumors reporting the natives 
to be cannibals, little reliable information could be gathered. 
On putting the question direct the usual reply would make refer- 
ence to the Wilrurrerra. It appears, however, that during very 
bad seasons the youngest of the children are killed. This act, 
Prof. Spencer holds, is performed to provide food for an elder child. 
* Report to Surveyor-General : Adelaide Observer, don. 16, 1892, D. 9; 
