ABORIGINAL TRIBES OF NEW SOUTH WALES AND VICTORIA. 365 



two warrior youths, who were brothers, named Bram-bram- 

 bulaty, 1 which in the aboriginal tongue means, Two-Brams. 

 These words the natives have shortened into Brambambult, 

 which is more euphonious and is the name by which the 

 heroes are mostly spoken of. They are sometimes called 

 Barm-barm-bult. I have collected a few examples of the 

 principal exploits of these mythic warriors, as told to me 

 by some old natives. It has been found necessary to 

 abridge the narratives very largely, and to omit portions 

 of them altogether, in order to bring them within reason- 

 able limits for publication in this article: — 



1. The Ngindyal. — The ngin'-dyal was a bird-like animal, 

 having the shape and feathers of an emu, but of enormous 

 proportions, and was moreover, a great magician. She had 

 her nest at Wombagriik, containing only one egg, on which 

 she sat. She used to kill and eat all the people she could 

 catch. One day a crow came prying about, and the ngin- 

 dyal ran after him in a furious manner. The crow fled 

 across the country and ran into a cave or hole in the side 

 of a mountain, and came out at the other side. The ngin- 

 dyal rushed at the hill and struck it with her foot, which 

 split it in two, forming what is now known as Rose's 

 Gap. The ngindyal continued on through the cleft in the 

 mountain and was graining rapidly on the crow till he came 

 to another mountain which was passed over in a similar 

 manner. The chase was continued until the crow reached 

 his own miyur or spirit land at Dyurnera, 2 whither the 

 ngindyal had not the power to intrude, and turned back to 

 her nest. 



Shortly afterward the crow left his miyur, and returned 

 to his ordinary hunting grounds. It chanced on a day that 



1 See my " The Aboriginal Languages of Victoria," Journ. Roy. Soc, 

 N. S. Wales, Vol. xxxvi., p. 84. 



2 Dyurnera is the fabled water of the clan Wanguguliak, to which the 

 crow belongs. See " Sociology of the Tribes of Western Victoria," in 

 earlier pages of this work. 



