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NEW SOUTH WALES. 



others have been adopted in their place. They have, however, some 

 indistinct notions of a Deity. The missionaries at Wellington have 

 heard from them of a being whom they call Bai-a-mai, and whom, 

 with his son Burambin, they deem the creator of all things. To this 

 Bai-a-mai they pay a land of annual worship by dancing and singing 

 a song in his honour. This song, they say, was brought from a 

 distant country by strangers who went about teaching it. This 

 annual worship took place in the month of February, and all who 

 did not join in it were supposed to incur the displeasure of the god. 



Bai-a-mai was supposed to live on an island beyond the great sea 

 of the coast, and to eat fish, which, when he required food, came up 

 at his call from the water. Burambin, others say, was brought into 

 existence by Bai-a-mai, when the missionaries first came to Wel- 

 lington. 



Dararwirgal is a brother of Bai-a-mai, and lives in the far west. 

 To him they ascribe the origin of the small-pox, which has made 

 such ravages among them. They say that he was vexed for want 

 of a tomahawk, and therefore sent that disease among them; but 

 they now suppose that he has obtained one, and that the disease will 

 come no more. 



Balumbals are angels, said to be white, who live on a mountain to 

 the southwest, at a great distance. Their food is honey, and their 

 employment like that of the missionaries. 



Wandong is their evil spirit, whom they have learnt from the 

 whites to call the " Devil." They describe him as a gigantic black 

 man, always prowling about at night, ready to seize and devour any 

 unfortunate wanderer. So great is their horror of this imaginary 

 being, that they never venture from their fires at night, except under 

 the pressure of great necessity, when they always carry a firebrand 

 to intimidate the monster. 



FLIGHT OF THE BOOMLRENU. 



