ABORIGINAL TRIBES OF NEW SOUTH WALES AND VICTORIA. 355 



tree and pulled a young opossum out of a hollow spout, and 

 after some exertion swallowed it. 



Then the iguana changed his direction and went towards 

 a stony ridge. As he walked along he gazed around him 

 suspiciously and frequently, which increased the billidhu's 

 watchfulness. On nearing a flat rock, he approached it 

 cautiously and slowly, pretending he was tracking some 

 animal. The billidlm now kept coming nearer and nearer, 

 and every time the iguana turned his head towards him he 

 stood still. The iguana finally halted and began removing 

 the loose stone which covered the water, which enabled 

 the billidhu to come quite close. A last look around satis- 

 fied the iguana that no one was within view, and he dipped 

 his mouth into the water to take a draught. By this time 

 the billidhu was alongside, and raising his tomahawk cleft 

 the iguana's skull open. As the billidhu had not the talis- 

 manic secret of shutting down the water, it flowed out and 

 filled all the hollow places, so that everybody had plenty 

 of water, which has continued till the present time. 



The Dhiel and her Water-trough. — The dhi-el is a small 

 night jar, which remains in the hollow spouts of trees dur- 

 ing the day, and comes out in the night time, feeding upon 

 berry-bearing shrubs. This bird was a woman — a being of 

 mystery — in the far-away past and had two dogs, the soldier 

 ant and the leech. She generally camped some distance 

 back from watering places, and carried water for her own 

 use in a native trough, or kuddyil, of magical proportions 

 and manufacture. Dhiel was very friendly to all the people 

 of her own sex, but would kill and eat boys and men. When 

 a girl attained the age of puberty, she was taken by some 

 old female relatives into the bush, where she was treated 

 in accordance with the regulations briefly described under 

 the head of "Initiation of Women " in earlier pages of this 

 work. Dhiel always assisted on such occasions. 



