Page:Native Tribes of South-East Australia.djvu/472

446 the explorers Burke and Wills, I was frequently saluted by blacks when within hearing distance with the words Pirri-wirri-kutchi, which may be rendered as "wandering ghost." Even now the word Kutchi is used by the Dieri for any of the strange paraphernalia of the whites, for instance, even a dray and team of bullocks has been so called. Afterwards, on my second expedition, a group of the Yantruwunta, whom I met on their wanderings as far south as the Grey Range, identified me with one of their deceased tribesmen called Mungalli, "lizard." He was of that totem, and I was necessarily the same. It was through their speaking of me by that name that I found what their idea was, a circumstance which was of much use to me later on.

The clouds of dust raised on the plains of Central Australia are ascribed to Kutchi by the Dieri; and if one of these dust whirlwinds passes through the midst of a camp there is great consternation, as they fear that some great calamity will follow.

A young strong man of the Yendakarangu section of the Urabunna tribe, who lived at Strangway's Springs, chased a whirlwind for many miles, trying to kill Kutchi with boomerangs. He returned after some hours much exhausted, and said he had had a fight with Kutchi and had killed him; but, he added in the broken English spoken by the blacks, that "Kutchi growl along a me; by and by me tumble down." He pined away from day to day, and always insisted that his case was hopeless, as Kutchi had growled. In this sense "growling" means quarrelling, or using violent language.

Such beliefs as those mentioned in the last section explain much in the burial customs which would otherwise seem to be without meaning.

When one of the Dieri is dying his relatives separate into two groups. These are first, the Ngaperi, Ngata-mura, Noa, with those Kami and Kadi who are more nearly related to him. The second group consists of the Ngandri,