61 
tribe. The abductors then jumped into the sea, taking* the girl with 
(them. When they re-appeared their hands were changed to fins. 
They dived again, and their legs developed into a tail, they dived 
(again and they were all changed into “dugongs.” 
The Bower-bird introduced the spear in the following manner: 
Ihe called all the other birds to a corroboree, and when he had them 
sail in a line, he ran a spear through the lot of them. The “Barry- 
sarra,” or Turkey (Bustard), however, was late upon the scene, and 
.as he approached, he was just in time to see the awful deed. He, 
therefore, went away quietly and made himself a shield, by which 
he could defeat the cunning of the bower bird. 
THE MISSION. 
The aboriginal mission at Sunday Island was founded on 11th 
June, 1899, by Mr. Sidney Hadley, who had for twenty years pre- 
viously been employing members of the tribe there in pearl shell 
and beche-de-mer fishing. When starting the mission, he had the 
voluntary assistance of Messrs. Ormerod and Kelchter, one for eight 
and the other for twenty months; after they left, Mr. Hadley 
carried on the work alone with his private funds, and the Aborig- 
ines Department reserved the island for the purposes of the mission 
at his request, and he has been allowed the usual blankets, 
and ninepence a day for the aged and infirm. He employed a 
schoolmaster for seven years, and the Education Department has 
made a grant of £100 a year to the mission, on Dr. Roth’s recom- 
mendation. Mr. W. II. Bird was schoolmaster there for three 
years, but left in the year following the writer’s visit; he was 
succeeded by Miss Jose and she again by Mr. and Mrs. Horace 
Smith, who are now there as missionaries until Mr. Hadley’s re- 
turn. None of the churches have contributed anything towards 
the mission. There is a substantial stone cottage and a commodious 
schoolhouse, and two dormitories, one for boys and another for 
girls, built of timber and corrugated iron. The garden yields bananas 
and vegetables, and there is a rubber plantation now with many hun- 
dreds of trees. The live stock consists of cows and goats. 
There is now a roll of nearly thirty scholars, who are in two 
classes. Some of the boys have become fine craftsmen, and one is 
teaching the Junior Class in the school. These children are 
taught school discipline and cleanliness, to read and write from 
dictation, and to recite, also ordinary mental arithmetic and geo- 
graphy; in the latter they show wonderful aptitude. Bible lessons 
are given and the principles of Christianity, but the teaching is 
otherwise unsectarian. The boy^s are further taught by Mr. Hadley 
cultivation in the garden and the management of live stock, and 
are trained to work as crew in the fourteen ton cutter, “Rita,” 
belonging to the mission, for pearl and beche-de-mer fishing. Mr. 
