Page:Myth, Ritual, and Religion (Volume 2).djvu/17

 Rh the large collection of Brough Smyth. There is a being with a sort of limited supremacy and priority, styled Pund-jel or Bun-jil. He is said to have "made all things," but it has been shown when we treated of the myths of the origin of things that this is too sweeping a statement. In Australian opinion, as in that of Topsy, most things "growed," rather than were made. This is an early form of the doctrine of evolution. Though in a sense the creator, Pund-jel is conceived of as the most eminent of a primeval race, notably endowed with the powers of "medicine" or magic. He has a wife "whose face he has never seen." Possibly this notion survives from one of those curious laws of etiquette which regulate and obscure the relations between husband and wife. The name of Pund-jel is said to mean "eagle-hawk," and the eagle-hawk is a totem or kobong of importance among the tribes. On the Murray River, Pund-jel is simply a supernatural eagle-hawk sans phrase, with human attributes and magical accomplishments. As in the Greek myths which Aristophanes invented, or more probably adapted, birds are the oldest of gods, far earlier than men. "These birds had as much intelligence and wisdom as the blacks; nay, some say that they were altogether wiser and more skilful in all things." Pund-jel is not only a demiurge, but is also, from the