Page:The Aborigines of Victoria and Riverina.djvu/161

156 the Sun. This vile Ngarou's habits were of a most depraved nature, in fact many of them had never been heard of in Ngaroudom until his hideous appearance came on the scene to defile the earth.

His prevailing penchant, and the one most dreaded by the innocent Ngarou people, was that of slaying his unsuspicious fellows and feasting upon their flesh.

To enable him to pander easily to this detestable longing of his, he had cunningly made his camp on the margin of a nice plain, where delicious yams grew abundantly; and where Ngarous from all quarters made a point of assembling, in the proper seasons, to feed on the succulent and milky roots, so grateful to their simple tastes.

In the long, gloomy periods of that sunless time, when crowds of Ngarous feasted on the fair yam plain, this wicked old monster would patiently wait, and watch, until some unwary young Ngarou separated from his fellows, to enjoy his accustomed siesta by some fragrant myall tree, away from the noise and turmoil caused by his busily feeding brethren; and as soon as slumber had supervened upon his preceding state of repletion, the old watchful vagabond would stealthily creep up to his unsuspicious and unconscious victim, and throttle him ere he had a chance of waking.

The position chosen by the wicked old Ngarou for his camp was not only advantageous to him, by reason of its near proximity to the succulent yam-field, but also because the great highway, along which the Ngarou people were wont to travel, when visiting their breeding grounds every season, ran close by the spot.