Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/282

 204 THE ENCOUNTER BAY TRIBE. became opossums, and went upon 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. (The operation for obtaining fire is as follows: —A split piece of the flower-stem 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). 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 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, Ngannangk  kuratje 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 intelli