Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/216

 142 UTTERANCE OF EMOTION BY SOUND. happened was this: My father had gone into the reeds to snare ducks. He took with him the long rod, with a noose at the end. He had patiently sat at the edge of the swamp until the ducks came. At last one got within reach, so he gently and skilfully let the noose fall over its head and then suddenly dragged it out. This frightened the rest of the flock, so he got up and came away. He walked in a path through the high, thick reeds, which were far above his head, and then came to the place where they were lowerabout up to his waist. All on a sudden he heard the whirr of a waddy as it flew by his head, and yet he saw nothing. He started, dropped the duck and his rod, and put up his hand to grasp a kanake out of the basket which hung from his neck down his back. He supposed some enemy had flung at him from the reeds, and was about to make an attack. At that instant he felt something grapple with him, but yet he saw nothing. Strong arms were put round him, and a great invisible being hugged him in his grasp. He had heard that Melapi sometimes thus attacks people, and that it is wisest to resist; so, although he shuddered with fear, he returned grip for grip, and wrestled with the spirit. The reeds crashed and crackled under his feet as he swayed about in the struggle. He felt like a boy in the power of the mighty one, yet he manfully returned strain for strain. He felt faint with horror. To get away was impossible; to yield and be dragged off was awful. He put forth another effort. He fancied the unseen one yielded a little. Encouraged, he put forth all his strength and tried to throw his adversary. As he did so with straining muscles and clenched teeth and staring eyes he began to see a dim outline of a form like a man, and as he strove it became plainer and plainer. He gave a wild cry, and as he did so Melapi burst from his grasp and disappeared. When my father came back to the camp, he was weak and tired. He told us what he had felt and seen, and always afterwards firmly believed that he had wrestled with the great Melapi. Ngunaitpon-arni died some time afterwards. He had listened many times to the Word of God. It is a comfort to know that he died calling upon the name of the Lord. In his last illness he was heard fervently praying to the Lord Jesus to save him. Surely we may hope that he was saved. CRIES AND INTERJECTIONS OF THE NARRINYERI. The Narrinyeri often utter inarticulate sounds in order to express their feelings and wishes. These answer to our interjections, such as, oh! ah! &c.; only it is not easy to express them by letters. Their method of saying yes and no is very difficult to write down. A sort of grunt, which may perhaps answer to the letters ng pronounced in an affirmative tone, means "yes;" the same sort of grunt, which can only be written by the same letters, but uttered in a negative, forbidding tone, means "no." Their expressions of surprise are the following"Kai, hai!" This is a pure interjection, and only means sudden astonishment.