black, about twenty-two years of age, strong, active, and healthy, who started from the station, and ran in pursuit of a whirlwind to kill it with boomerangs. He was away about two or three hours, and on his return was very much exhausted. He said he had killed Kootchee, but that "Kootchee growl along-a me. Me tumble down by'm bye." He described where he had run to, a place about eight miles off. As the weather was very hot, and he had had no water until his return to the camp, he doubtless suffered much from his over-exertion; be that as it may, he was so firmly persuaded that he was supernaturally injured, that he got downhearted, gave up hunting, &c., and moped about the camp; finally lying up altogether, and dying about eleven months after his encounter with Kootchee. Of course he was looked on as a hero by the whole tribe, and his achievement was made the theme of a new corrobboree, as they invariably distinguish special services or events thus, and, as far as I can learn, hand them down from father to son by that means. They appear to ascribe many forms to Kootchee. Sometimes he is like a big blackfellow; then a whirlwind; at times he is Woma (a snake); but generally they ascribe no definite form to him, alleging he can take any; but they appear firmly persuaded that he is tangible, and can be SIC|fonght|fought}} with physical weapons equally well as with charms. I never heard good ascribed to Kootchee; the nearest approach to it was when they saw the "Aurora Australis" in 1869, they said then "Kootchee make old-man fire," i.e., big fire.
Fire.
The manner in which fire was first obtained is thus described by the Aborigines of Gippsland:—There was a time when the Aborigines had not fire. The people were in sad distress. They had no means of cooking their food, and there was no camp-fire at which they could warm themselves when the weather was cold. Tow-er-a—fire—was in the possession of two women who had no great love for the blacks. They guarded the fire very strictly. A man who was friendly to the blacks determined to get fire from the women; and, in order to accomplish this difficult feat, he feigned amity and affection, and accompanied the women on their journeys. One day, seizing a favorable opportunity, he stole a fire-stick, which he hid behind his back, and, making some slight excuse, he left the women, carrying with him the fire. He returned to the blacks, and gave them that which he had stolen. This man was ever afterwards regarded as a benefactor. He is now a little bird. The little bird has a red mark over his tail, which is the mark of the fire.
killed by the lightning-flash, which was attracted by his pointed arrow. Other tribes have a similar custom, being in the habit of throwing stones or other objects at the clouds."—J. G. Wood, vol. I., p. 306.
It would be interesting and valuable to put together all the practices of savage nations in some sort of order, classifying them, and thereby laying sure foundations for a science. At present our knowledge of primitive man, as represented by living races of savages, is found in paragraphs scattered through thousands of volumes and pamphlets. When shall arise a William Smith who will do as much for ethnology as he did for geology?
