284 R. H. MATHEWS. 



shoulders, but it swam on to the end of the waterhole and 

 commenced forming a channel by tearing up the ground, 

 and in this manner allowing the water to flow after it and 

 bear it away from its enemy. 



Bandyal did this so rapidly that Thattyukul was not able 

 to keep pace with him. He kept on travelling towards the 

 south-west, leaving a sinuous line of water behind him. At 

 dusk he camped and excavated a long, deep lagoon, where 

 he rested for the night. Thattyukul paddled his canoe 

 along the watercourse, and upon overtaking the cod fish 

 he hurled another spear at him, which stuck deeply into 

 the median line of his back, as before, but somewhat lower 

 down. This caused the great fish to start forward again, 

 digging out a channel wide enough to allow his immense 

 body to swim along. When night came he camped as pre- 

 viously, and made a large lagoon to rest in. 



Here Thattyukul again overtook him and threw another 

 spear, which penetrated the spine in the rear of the two 

 former weapons. Thattyukul continued the pursuit for 

 several days with similar experiences until they reached 

 the neighbourhood of where the Murray Bridge has since 

 been erected. By this time Thattyukul had used up all his 

 spears, and had, besides, broken a piece off the end of his 

 paddle. At this spot, Bandyal the cod fish made a larger 

 hole, and Thattyukul lost sight of him, being unable to propel 

 his canoe fast enough with the broken paddle. He there- 

 fore abandoned the chase and landed on the bank, where 

 he set his canoe up on its end and it became a bial-bial, or 

 red-gum tree. He stuck his broken paddle into the ground 

 and it was transformed into a pine-tree. 



The watercourse dug out by the cod fish in this encounter 

 became the present Murray River, and the spines now found 

 projecting from the back of the cod fish represent the spears 

 thrown by Thattyukul in his vain attempt to capture it. 



