manœuvre of a Bun-yip to lull her into security, so that in her husband's absence he might seize her for food. However this was, after the husband had stayed away some time, he returned, but his wife was gone, and she was never seen after. So great is the dread the natives have of these creatures, that on discovering one they throw themselves flat on their faces, muttering some gibberish, or flee away from the borders of the lake or river, as if pursued by a wild beast. … When alone, I several times attempted to spear a Bun-yip; but had the natives seen me do so it would have caused great displeasure. And again, had I succeeded in killing, or even wounding one, my own life would probably have paid the forfeit; they considering the animal, as I have already said, something supernatural."
FIG. 244.
The Western Port blacks call the Bun-yip Toor-roo-dun, and a picture of the animal, made by Kurruk many years ago, under the direction of a learned doctor, is that of a creature resembling the emu.[1]—(Fig. 244.) On the Western Port plains there is a basin of water—never dry, even in the hottest summers—which is called Toor-roo-dun, because the Bun-yip lives in that water.[2] Toor-roo-dun inhabits the deep waters, and the thick mud beneath the deep waters, and in this habit resembles the eel. The natives never bathe in the waters of this basin. A long time ago some of the people bathed in the lake, and they were all drowned, and eaten by Toor-roo-dun. The Goulburn blacks have the same dread of this terrible creature; but their doctors, priests, and wise men say that Toor-roo-dun does not eat the blacks, but contents himself with holding them in his embraces until they die. All the blacks believe in
- ↑ Mr. Stanbridge says the natives describe the Bun-yip as having a head and neck like an emu.
- ↑ There is a place now called Toor-roo-dun on the northern shore of Western Port Bay. It is situate on Stawell's Creek, which discharges part of the overflow of the Koo-wee-rup Swamp into an inlet of the sea. The great swamp (Koo-wee-rup) has an area of 120 square miles; it receives the waters of the Bun-yip River and the Kardinia, Toomuc, and Ararat Creeks, and its overflow is conveyed to the sea by numerous creeks and channels. It is a place where one might expect to find the seal iu such a situation as to give rise to the wild stories told by the natives.
