Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/122

 60 LEGENDS. the spear and wounded him in the neck. This caused a great laughing and shouting, and nearly all were transformed into different animals. Kondole ran to the sea and became a whale, and ever after blew the water out of the wound which he received in hie neck. Kuratje and Kanmari became small fish. The latter was dressed iu a good kangaroo skin, and the former only a mat made of seaweed, which is the reason, they say, that the kanmari contains a great deal of oil under the skin, while the kuratje is dry and without fat. Others became opossums, and went up trees. The young men who were ornamented with tufts of feathers became cockatoos, the tuft of feathers being the crest. Rilballe took Kondole’s fire and placed it in the grass-tree, where it still remains, and can be brought out by rubbing.* "They tell a number of other stories concerning the origin of the sea, heat, &c., &c., but it will suffice to mention the cause of the rain and the origin of languages. "Near the Goolwa lived an old man named Kortuwe with his two friends, Munkari and Waingilbe. The latter, who were considerably younger than Kortuwe, went out fishing, and as they caught kuratje and kanmari they put the kuratje, which are not so good as the kanmari, aside for Kortuwe. The old man, perceiving this, commenced a song, Annaitjeranangk rotjer tampatjeranangk, (in the Encounter Bay dialect it would be Ngannang kuratjee tampin’for me they put aside the kuratje’), upon which rain began to fall. Kortuwe then went into his hut, and closed it with bushes, and Munkari and Waingilbe were obliged to remain outside and got wet as a punishment. The three were transformed into birds, and as often as Kortuwe makes a noise it is a sign that rain will soon follow. "Languages originated from an ill-tempered old woman. In remote time an old woman named Wurruri lived towards the east, and generally walked with a large stick in her hand to scatter the fires round which others were sleeping. Wurruri at length died. Greatly delighted at this circumstance, they sent messengers in all directions to give notice of her death. Men, women, and children came, not to lament, but to show their joy. The Raminjerar were the first, who fell upon the corpse and began eating the flesh, and immediately began to speak intelligibly. The other tribes to the eastward, arriving later, ate the contents of the intestines, -which caused them to speak a language slightly different. The northern tribes came last, and devoured the intestines and all that remained, and immediately spoke a language differing still more from that of the Raminjerar. "All this happened before the time of Nurunduri, with whose departure from the earth the power of transforming themselves, and making rivers, hills, &c., ceased. As with Nurunduri a new epoch commenced, as much of his history as can be told with decency here follows:He was a tall and powerful man, and lived in the east with two wives, and had several children. Upon one occasion his two wives ran away from him, and he went in search of them. Wherever he arrived lie spread terror amongst the people, who were dwarfs compared with him. Continuing his pursuit, he arrived at Freeman’s Nob. Disappointed at not finding his wives, he threw two small nets, called witti, into the sea, and immediately two small rocky islands arose, which ever since have been called Wittungenggul. He went on to Ramong, where, by stamping with his is placed upon the ground, the flat side uppermost, and the lower end of a thinner piece pressed upon it, while the upper part is held between the palms of the hands, and an alternate revolving motion given to it by rubbing the hands backwards and forwards till it ignites.
 * The operation for obtaining fire is as follows:A split piece of the flowerstem