Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 20, 1909.djvu/395

 Rh the coast tribes drank salt water. The eagle-hawk, wallitch, never drank with the rest, but always went back into the interior. One day the fish-hawk, molar, watched him going to a forked tree, from which he removed a piece of bark and had a drink. After the eagle-hawk went away back to his camp, the fish-hawk approached the tree for the purpose of making investigations. As soon as molar lifted up the piece of bark, the water flowed out in torrents, and filled all the hollow places, making creeks, rivers, and lakes as they now appear.

The White-topped Rocks, near Cape Chatham.—In those olden days there was a large plain extending from the main land out to the White-topped Rocks, about nine miles out from Cape Chatham. On one occasion two women went far out on the plain, digging roots. One of the women was heavy with child, and the other woman had a dog with her. After a while they looked up, and saw the sea rushing towards them over the great plain. They both started running towards the high land about Cape Chatham, but the sea soon overtook them and was up to their knees. The woman who had the dog picked it up out of the water and carried it on her shoulders. The woman who was far advanced in pregnancy could not make much headway, and the other was heavily handicapped with the weight of the dog. The sea, getting deeper and deeper, soon overwhelmed them both, and they were transformed into the White-topped Rocks, in which the stout woman and the woman carrying the dog can still be seen.

The Making of Mount Johnston and other Hills.—On another occasion, there was a party of natives cooking a big heap of roots which they had gathered. A dispute arose about the partition of the food, and one of the men, who was a mulgar or wizard, drew his foot and kicked the heap of roots in all directions. Some of them became Mount Johnston, whilst some more were turned into other rocky hills in that locality, upon which large root-shaped rocks can still be distinguished.

The Origin of Fire.—In olden times the bandicoot had the monopoly of fire. It was shut up in a nut, which he always carried about with him, secreted. The other people noticed that his meat was always tender and different from theirs, and they asked him the reason of it. He told them that he laid it on a rock, and