a rock (Wallung), and is all of stone except the breast and the arms and the hands. No one knows exactly what he is like. Nargun is always on the lookout for blackfellows, and many have been dragged into his caves. He is a terror to the natives of Gippsland.[1]
The following account of the Evil Spirit that torments the natives of the Dieyerie tribe (Cooper's Creek) has been communicated to me by Senior Constable James. Kootchee has great power. The doctor (Koonkie), Gason says, is a native who, when a child, has seen the Devil, and the Devil is called Kootchee. Kootchee, strange to say, gives power to the doctors to heal all sick. The Dieyerie people live in dread of Kootchee notwithstanding. Mr. James's statement is as follows:—Nearly every sickness or death that results from natural causes is ascribed by these blacks to Kootchee, and the old men practice many rites and ceremonies to charm away the sinister influence exercised by Kootchee. I am not acquainted with the charms, but know that certain human bones, red-ochre, and clay form the principal ingredients used in working the charms. I may add that none but evil influence is ever assigned to Kootchee. When it thunders, "Kootchee growl" (i.e., is angry or fights), say the blacks; and if the thunder be loud and near, the whole camp rushes out in a body in the direction the thunder is heard, and, elevating the hands in front of the chest, fingers upward and palms outward, make sudden vigorous movements, as if pushing a physical opponent away, and cry, "Hoo, hoo,'' at each push. They say this is to drive Kootchee away. If they hear wild pigeons cooing in the night, they are dreadfully frightened, and ascribe it to Kootchee. I have often been called from my bed at night by the station blacks calling to me to come and kill Kootchee for them. They would call out, "Massa, come on, you shoot-um Kootchee; him big one growl along-a blackfellow. You hear um?" Listening, I would hear the cooing of the pigeons; and generally succeeded in pacifying them, and allaying their fears by telling them (what they knew, if not excited) that it was merely the pigeons. I noticed that such alarms would never arise if the camp of blacks was a strong one and contained many fighting-men. They also ascribe the whirlwinds to Kootchee; and as on the open plains of the interior they can be traced by the clouds of dust they raise, they have ample opportunities of seeing the course taken by the whirlwinds. Should one come near the camp, it is a bad omen; should one pass right over it, it is worse. In this case the whirlwind or Kootchee should be destroyed by throwing boomerangs at it; but to fight thus is, they think, highly dangerous.[2] I once knew a young
- ↑ How Bungil Bottle behaved when he came in sight of a cave at Dead-cock Creek in Gippsland, and what kind of a being Nargun is, and where he dwells, and how he behaves, are well told by Mr. Alfred Howitt.—See Third Report of Progress, Geological Survey of Victoria, p. 220.
- ↑ Shooting at the storm is practised by other savages. "During the terrible thunderstorms which occasionally pass over the country, the Namaquas are in great dread of the lightning, and shoot their poisoned arrows at the clouds, in order to drive it away. As may be imagined, there is no small danger in this performance, and a man has been
