NOTES ON SOME NATIVE TRIBES OF AUSTRALIA. 109 
would be bandicoots at one place; frogs would infest 
others; some would be reeking with porcupines; whilst 
other spots would be haunted by snakes. Certain of these 
fabled areas were large, and others were of small extent. 
Some of the traditionary totems were invested with greater 
authority than others, like the head men of totemic groups 
at the present time. Some animals of a kind were 
numerous, as now, and left a prolific family of spirits, 
whilst others were few, and left behind a limited number 
of representatives. The exact location of every one of 
these notable retreats has been handed down by oral 
tradition to all the present natives, who give a poetical 
and much embellished account of the doings of their various 
ancestors, freely mixed with superstition. 
The people of the far past time used to assemble, as at 
present, for ceremonial purposes, such as initiating the 
young men, making rain, etc., and consequently every man 
and woman had travelled over most of the tribal territory. 
After the death of a given individual, his spirit would re- 
visit all the places which had figured prominently in the 
man’s life, sometimes sojourning at one of these spots, 
sometimes at another, but the “‘headquarters’’ of the 
spirit would be at a particular soakage, rock, etc., in the 
old hunting grounds. 
Whether in human shape or as monstrosities, these 
creatures of aboriginal fancy or exaggeration were 
possessed of supernatural powers. Some of them could 
form springs and watercourses; some could raise up hills 
and rocks at certain historic spots, whilst others could 
cause trees or patches of scrub to grow in remarkable 
forms. Moreover, these fabled retreats are related to one 
another, in the same way that human beings are related. 
For example, a soakage may be the mother’s brother of a 
certain hill; a rock may be the father of a particular 
