280 R. H. MATHEWS. 



the evening in the eastern sky, they are ushering in the 

 warm weather. They are supposed to be a family of young 

 women, whose name was War-ring'-garaf, and who belonged 

 to the section Wirrakan. 1 Among the same tribes, a Tauri 

 was a young man named Karambal, of the Womboang 

 division, who absconded with another man's wife. He was 

 pursued by the injured husband, and took refuge in a tall 

 tree. His pursuer piled wood around the bole of the tree, 

 which he then set on fire, and Karambal was carried up by 

 the fierce flames into the sky, where he still retains the 

 colour of the fire.' 2 



In the frosty nights of the winter months, about three 

 or four hours before sunrise is a time when there is gener- 

 ally a stir in a native camp. The people have had their 

 first sleep, and the cold begins to make itself felt. The 

 men and women, especially those who are old, sit up and 

 replenish their fires. While doing this, their attention is 

 naturally directed to the sky, where they observe that the 

 stars then shining in the eastern quadrant are different 

 from those which were visible the previous evening. They 

 observe that these stars are trudging along after the others, 

 and will disappear at daylight. 



Among the Ngeumba blacks, in the cold weather of mid- 

 winter, when the Pleiades rise about three or four o'clock 

 in the morning, the old men take some glowing coals on 

 bark shovels, and cast them towards this constellation as 

 soon as it is visible. This is done to prevent the spirit- 

 women, whom these stars represent, from making the 

 morning too cold. The women in the camp are not per- 

 mitted to look at all at the Pleiades in winter nights, 

 because such conduct would increase the severity of the 



1 See mv paper on " Totemic Divisions of Australian Tribes," Journ. 

 Roy. Soc. N.S. Wales, Vol. xxxi., p. 169. 



2 Compare with my " Folklore of the Australian Aborigines/' (Sydney, 

 1899) pp. 26 - 29. 



