232 THE ABORIGINES OF NEW SOUTH WALES, 
opossum, the emu, the crow, and so on. But the old men of 
the Gringai tribe say that the regions “above the sky” are the 
home of the spirits of the dead, and that there are fig-trees there 
not visible, but they all agree that he is in the sky. A greater 
than he is the great Garaboon, or Garaboong, who, while on earth, 
man of great rank and power ; he was so tall that his feet could 
_ touch the bottom of the deepest rivers ; his only food was snakes 
and eels ; one day, not being hungry, he buried a snake and 4n 
Germ. 43) worshipped them in a sacred grove and call 
Alcis, which may mean the “mighty” ones, tall as the deepest 
rivers. ‘os 
How have our blackfellows come to have the nor Rare ct by 
_ derived 
them, autochthonously? Are they not rather a su ival— 
mm a common origin—of badittons which belong to the on” 
undivided human family. eS aborigines 
1 conclusion, let any one ask me how it is serge sunk s0lo¥ 
