Page:An Australian language as spoken by the Awabakal.djvu/138

 52 AK AUSTRALIAN LA>"GUAGE.

M u n u g - g u r r a b a, tlie place to Avhich ' sea-snipe ' resort.

Miinukan is the name of a point, under which is a seam of cannel coal, and beneath that is a thick seam of superior common coal, and both jut into the sea betwixt three and four fathoms of water. The government mineral surveyor found, on examination, that the two veins were nearly nine feet in thickness, and the coal of excellent quality; [i.e.. in ISSl].

jS^ikkinba, a place of coals, from n i k k i n, ' coal.' The whole Lake, twenty-one miles long by eight broad, abounds with coal.

Niritiba, the name of the island at the entrance of the lake; from niriti, the ' mutton bird,' which abounds there.

P i t o b a, a place of pipe clay ; from p i t o, ' pipe clay,' which is used at a death by the deceased's relatives to paint their whole body, in token of mourning.

P u n t e i, a ' narrow ' place ; the name of any narrow point of land.

Purribagba, the ' ant's-nest place ' ; from within these nests a yellow dusty substance is collected, and used by the blacks as a paint for their bodies, called p u r r i b a g. The ants gather the substance for some unknown purpose.

Tirabeenba, a tooth-like point of land ; from t i r a, 'a tooth.'

T u 1 k a b a, the soft ti-tree place ; from t u 1 k a, ' ti-tree.'

Tulkiriba, a place of brambles ; from t u 1 k i r i, 'a bramble.'

Tumpoaba, a clayey place ; from t u m p o a, ' clay,'

W fi r a w a 1 1 u g, the name of a high mountain to the west of Lake Macquarie. This has been partly cleared of timber, by order of the Surveyor- General ; as a land-mark it is seen from a considerable distance. The name is derived from w a 1 1 u g, the ' human head,' from its appearance.

"VV a u w a r a n, the name of a hole of fresh water in the vicinity of Lake Macquarie, betwixt it and the mountains westerly ; said by the blacks to be bottomless, and inhabited by a monster of a fish much larger than a shark, called w a u w a i ; it frequents the contiguous swamp and kills the aborigines ! There is another resort for these fish near an island in Lake Macquarie named boroyirdg, from the cliffs of which if stones be thrown down into the sea beneath, the ti-tree bark floats up, and then the monster is seen gradually arising from the deep ; if any natives are at hand, he overturns their canoe, swallows the crew alive, and then the entire canoe, after which he descends to his resort in the depths below !

Y i r a n n a 1 a i, the name of a place near Newcastle on the sea beach, beneath a high cliff"; it is said that if any persons speak there, the stones fall down from the high arched rocks above ; for the crumbling state of these is such that the concussions of air from the voice cause the pieces of the loose rock to come down ; this once occurred to myself when I was in company with some blacks here.

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