Page:Dawson - Australian aborigines (1900).djvu/66

 calling out 'kaka muuruup,' 'Come here, devil.' None of the Kuurn kopan noot tribe ever saw the Muuruup, but believe he was once seen by two natives of the Chaap wuurong tribe at Merrang, on the Hopkins River, when that country was first occupied with live stock; and they described him as a huge black man, carrying a great many spears, with a long train of snakes streaming behind him, 'like smoke from a steamboat.'

The Muuruup lives deep under the ground in a place called Ummekullen, and has under his command a number of inferior spirits, who are permitted to visit the surface of the earth occasionally. No human being has ever returned to tell what kind of place Ummekullen is. There is a belief, however, that there is nothing but fire there, and that the souls of bad people get neither meat nor drink, and are terribly knocked about by the evil spirits.

A spirit lives in the moon, called Muuruup neung kuurn tarrong'gnat, meaning 'devil in the moon.' Children are sometimes threatened, when they are bad, that this Muuruup will be sent for to take them to the moon.

Of terrestrial spirits there are devils, wraiths, ghosts, and witches, the differences between them being somewhat indefinite.

There are female devils, known by the general term Gnulla gnulla gneear. Buurt kuuruuk is the name of one who takes the form of a black woman 'as tall as a gum tree.' She has for a companion the dark-coloured bandicoot. If this animal be killed and eaten by a native, he is punished by misfortunes and by nightly visitations from Buurt kuuruuk. There is a legend that she carried off a woman from near the mouth of the Hopkins River to her wuurn on the top of the Cape Otway mountains, and compelled her to eat raw opossums for six moons. Various parts of the country are supposed to be haunted by these female devils; but none are so celebrated for their great size as those frequenting the Cape Otway ranges. The aborigines do not believe in any devils belonging to the sea.

Every person over four or five years of age has a spirit or ghost, which, although dormant through life, assumes a visible but undefined form after death; and, for a time, haunts the spot where a corpse is interred or placed in a tree. Although it is considered to be quite harmless, it is regarded with fear. It is said to be seen sitting on the grave or near the body, but it sinks into the ground or disappears if anyone approaches. As the friends of the deceased are very unwilling to go near the place, it is seldom seen and never examined. For its comfort a large fire is kept burning all night near the corpse. The recent custom