*^*6 BEV. JOHN MATHEW. 



birds had possession of it. These birds had as much intelligence 

 and wisdom as the blacks, nay, some say that they were altogether 

 wiser and more skilful. The eagle-hawk seems to have been the 

 chief among the birds, and next to him in authority was the crow. 

 The progenitors of the existing tribes, whether birds, or beasts, 

 or men, were set in the sky and made to shine as stars if the deeds 

 The eagle is now the planet Mars, 



thev 



had done 



were m 



andi 



ustly so, 1 



because 



also , 



I star. 





Th 





blacks 



eagle 



. Thisni 



lade the 



crow, caught him and killed ] 

 and disappeared. 



The Gippsland blacks vary the legend by saying that the eagle 

 ft his son in charge of the mophawk while he himself went 

 hunting The mophawk sewed the eaglet up in a bag and left 

 him. The eagle was irate, got the mophawk enclosed in the cavity 

 ot a hollow tree whence he was able to escape only by breaking 

 his leg and using the bone of it to cut his way out. The eagle 

 and the mophawk afterwards made a solemn agreement and treaty 

 ot peace, the conditions of which were as follows :— the eagle 

 should have the privilege of going up into the topmost boughs of 

 the trees so that he might from so great a height see Ijetter where 

 kangaroos were feeding ; and the mophawk was to have the right 

 ot occupying holes of trees : thus ended the disputes between the 

 eagle and the moph---' 



„ , Taplin relates some myths of the Nai 



Soutli Australia, similar to the above.* Nu 

 wonderful god orchief of this tribe. When he 





J o — v.. v..^i^,i. K,,. i,ni» Lnue. \v nen ne ana iiis toiiowers 

 3 down the Murray they found the country around the lakes 

 possession of clans of blacks under Wyungare and Nepelle. 

 last two of these heroes were translated to lieaven and became 

 stars. There is also a legend of a fight about fish between the 

 pelicans and the magpies, when the latter were rolled in the ashes 

 ot a hre they had made and became black. This myth, like those 

 about birds narrated above, will bear a similar interpretation. 



' ■ be made out of these myths 1 Are they tales 

 : and signifying nothing," or are they confused 

 3 of a real past history ] I take th*..,. f« i.^ +i,^ 



Now wh; 



I the lowei 



3 of rela 



I take them 

 •epresenting warfare carried 

 d with human faculties, or 

 mimals, and men were united 

 f these relations 



are men tioned by Mr. McLennan, f such as the Minotau. ^uu u.^ 

 t Studies in Ancient History, (London MacMillan& Co., 1886) n 22" 



