394 



R. H. CAMBAGE. 



soil which in cooler latitudes south of Sydney would be too 

 siliceous for the growth of Jungle flora. I am indebted to 

 Mr. J. C. H. Mingaye, F.c.s., for the amount of silica con- 

 tent in this rock. 



NATIVE LEGENDS OF BELLENDEN KER. 



Mr. John Hill of Glen Boughton, Cairns, who ascended 

 this mountain over twenty years ago, gave me the follow- 

 ing interesting folk-lore which he obtained through a native 

 interpreter from a very old blackfellow named Merrewah, 

 who acted as one of the guides. During their ascent it 

 was noticed that on three occasions after a long climb, a 

 small level zone was reached. These zones, Merrewah 

 explained, were up to that time used as camping grounds 

 by the natives when making their flying hunting trips on 

 these mountains, and were swept clean for spaces of ten to 

 twenty feet. They were known as "plarriah" and denoted 

 by numbers. Each plarriah had certain tribal responsi- 

 bilities and laws attached to it. Thus up to No. 1 plarriah 

 could go the women and children with the hunters; to No. 

 2 could go the men accompanied by the lads up to ten or 

 twelve years old, who had then to return to their waiting 

 mothers at No. 1. Then up to No. 3 plarriah (embracing 

 the whole summits characterising the Bellenden Ker 

 Mount), only the adult men could go, who had been through 

 the full initiation ceremonies of manhood. Old Merrewah 

 went on to explain that the legends of the tribe told how 

 one disobedient boy of about twelve years, surreptitiously 

 followed his father on to the plateau of No. 3 plarriah, and 

 that while his father was hunting for the Mappee, (the tree- 

 climbing kangaroo, Denclrolagus Lumholtzii), he suddenly 

 was horrified to hear his son close by calling piteously for 

 help. Running to the sounds he looked up to the top of a 

 tall tree to see the evil spirit embracing his boy. The 

 father wept and implored the evil spirit to let the boy go 



