ABORIGINAL TRIBES OF NEW SOUTH WALES AND VICTORIA. 285 



Ever since that time canoes have generally been made of 

 the bark of gum trees, and pine wood is mostly used for 

 making paddles. 



Thattyukul then started back overland through the mallee 

 scrubs and continued his course onward by way of the 

 Grampian Hills until he reached his own country. He 

 looked about and found his wife and children, accompanied 

 by his mother-in-law, Yerretgurk, on top of a mountain 

 whose sides were so steep that he could not climb up to 

 them, neither could they descend to him. He then called 

 out to his wife and children to jump down, one by one, and 

 he would catch them in his arms. First, his wife jumped, 

 then his eldest son, and lastly the youngest boy, and all 

 were landed safely. He next persuaded Yerretgurk, his 

 mother-in-law, to jump too, but he pretended he could not 

 catch her, and she fell heavily on the ground, and hurt her 

 face very much, which made her feel revengeful. 



In time Yerretgurk recovered from her injuries, but she 

 kept the matter in her mind. One day she was prodding 

 her yamstick into the ground in a swampy place, and the 

 water spurted up. She shoved in her yamstick farther 

 and could feel something biting it. Upon probing deeper 

 she came to the conclusion that it was some large and 

 vicious creature. Then she dug a large hole in the ground, 

 which at once filled with water, in the bottom of which 

 she could feel the mouth of some animal with her yamstick. 

 She now spread rotten sticks across the top of the hole and 

 covered them over with leaves, grass, and rubbish, to 

 resemble a huge bandicoot's nest. Then she brooded over 

 her past wrongs. 



Yerretgurk next called Thattyukul's two boys, and asked 

 them to go and tell their father she wanted him to come 

 and kill a large bandicoot whose nest she had just discovered. 

 She requested Thattyukul not to strike at the animal with 



