Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/215

 NGUNAITPONI’S STORY. 141 Ngunaitponi. The old man was a tall, venerable-looking savage. His hair was cut closely on his head from constant mourning for many deceased relatives. He had a long and grizzled beard. His body was covered with a grey, shaggy coat of hair, especially on the back and chest, his legs and thighs having the least. It is remarkable how much hair many of the natives have. Exposure to the atmosphere in a nude state is decidedly favourable to its growth. I have many times seen children of four years old who never wore clothes with quite a respectable coat of fur down their backs. When they wear clothes this seems to wear off; in their nude state it increases and forms a covering for life. I have also seen women of the savage class with beards and whiskers far more abundant than are to be seen on some white men. But to return from this digression. Ngunaitponarni was a tall, hairy, grey, venerable savage. He had a good deal of the natural courtesy of a well-bred barbariancourtesy gained by the necessities of camp life. Ngunaitponi was a man of about forty, tall and well-proportioned. Like many natives, he had in his youth lost an eye by having a spear thrown at him in a fight. The common hunting-ground of these two was the great beds of reeds which grow on the banks of the Lower Murray. These, and the river itself, yielded wildfowl and crayfish in abundance. One day, when I was conversing with Ngunaitponi, he told me the following singular story, which, as it illustrates the superstition of the natives, I will relate as nearly as possible in his own words:  NGUNAITPONI’S STORY. We have always believed that people lived after death. We call the spirit of a man pangari.* The old people often talk about where the spirit of a man has gone to after it has left the body; they say that it goes westward to Nurunderi. Then we believe in other spirits who walk about the earth, and who can make themselves to be seen or unseen as they like. There is Nalkáru, a terrible spirit who seeks to kill people; and there is Melapi, who is always lying in wait for men. Have any of us ever seen these spirits? Yes; I have heard our old men say they have. My father saw Melapi once; the old man says he is sure he did. The way it
 * Pangari means "shadow;" it is equivalent to our term "shade."