by all the men of all the assembled tribes; what he liked best was by all regarded as good. And he did not approve of the attempts of the white man to hear his discourses, and care was taken accordingly to prevent him from learning anything relating to them. But when Kul-ler-kul-lup and his people went away, Mr. Thomas ascertained from Billi-billari that the old man had come from a tribe inhabiting the Australian Alps (probably the north-western slopes), which was not in any way connected with any of the Gippsland tribes, and which had never had intercourse with any Gippsland people. He said that Kul-ler-kul-lup had informed them that there was a race living in the Alps who inhabited only the rocky parts, and had their homes in caves; that this people rarely left their haunts but when severely pressed by hunger, and mostly clung closely to their cave-dwellings; that to this people the Australians were indebted for corrobborees; that corrobborees were conveyed by dreams to Kul-ler-kul-lup' s people and other Australians; and that the men of the caves and rocks were altogether superior to the ordinary Aboriginal.
It is probable that Billi-billari gave a truthful account of Kul-ler-kul-lup's statements. It is more than probable that the Australians have always had a belief in the existence of races both superior and inferior to their own; and it is certain that the accidental intrusion of members of distant and strange tribes, acquainted with modes of fighting and decoration somewhat different from their own, must always have been regarded as proofs of the existence of peoples different from them. If easily taken and killed, such intruders would be regarded as inferior; if superior in skill, and greater in daring, and able to put to flight the warriors, then the visitors would be regarded as superiors. In the latter case, the adoption of any other hypothesis would have cast a slur on the fighting-men.
The Aborigines everywhere, and on all occasions, pay great respect to old persons. If a number of strangers are going to a camp, the oldest man walks first, and the younger men follow. Amongst the Murray blacks it is considered a very great fault to say anything disrespectful to an old person. It is deemed a serious thing to say, Kur-o-pi ther-a-ka wirto (you grey-haired old man!). It is only when a young man is very much enraged that he will venture to use such words; and if used, the consequences are sometimes serious.
"Respect for old age," says Sir Thomas Mitchell, "is universal amongst the Aborigines. Old men, and even old women, exercise great authority among assembled tribes, and 'rule the big war' with their voices when both spears and boomerangs are at hand."[1]
In the country occupied by the Dieyerie tribe (Cooper's Creek) the old men direct the movements of the people. "Should any matter of moment have to be considered—such as removing the camps, making of rain, marrying, circumcision, or what not—one of the old men moots the subject late at night, before the camp retires to rest. At dawn of the succeeding day, each question, as proposed by the old man, is answered at once, or, should they wait until he has finished, three or four speak together; with this exception, there being no
- ↑ Interior of Eastern Australia, vol. II., p. 339.
