There is much playfulness and sagacity apparent in the stories of the Aborigines. The injuries done to the bear are repaired after a curious fashion; and the wombat revenges the blow given him by the kangaroo in a manner that accounts sufficiently for the appearance he now presents.
Many of their tales recall to recollection the fables of Ovid, and others are, in character, not unlike some of those in the Pansiya panas jataka of the Buddhists.[1]
The account that is given of the manner in which Pund-jel made the first men somewhat resembles the work attributed to Tiki in the mythology of the New Zealanders.
The myths and tales now presented do no more than serve to show how much is yet to be done in Australia in this most interesting field of enquiry. There is not a tribe of natives anywhere that does not include in it old men and old women who are the depositaries of its superstitions; and from them could be obtained stories as valuable probably as any that are given in this volume.
The late Dr. Bleek labored in South Africa with marked success in gathering portions of the great store of Bushman traditionary lore, which but for him would in all probability have remained unknown; and here in Australia there is a larger field, and the results it is certain would amply repay the labors of any who could devote time to setting down, if possible in the native tongue, with an exact translation between the lines, all that the natives have to tell respecting the beings that, in their belief, formerly peopled the earth.
Unthinking persons treat all their tales with contempt; but it is to their myths one has to look in any attempt to discover to what stock the Australian belongs. To study the mind of the savage is not a worthless employment either; and his legends and tales and superstitions reveal the workings of his undisciplined intellect, show his perception, and enable one to observe to what extent his power of reasoning is developed.
The information I have collected illustrative of the languages of the colony of Victoria will no doubt be welcomed by philologists. Many of the papers have been written by gentlemen who were well aware of the importance of the work they were engaged upon, and they have carefully and conscientiously dealt with the several questions which I put to them.
There are in all twenty-three papers, and the names of the contributors comprise many of those in the colony who are most competent to deal with so difficult a subject as the native language. The vocabularies compiled by Mr. Bunce, Mr. Parker, the Rev. Mr. Hagenauer, and Mr. Green; the examples of the conjugation of verbs, the declension of nouns and pronouns, the explanations of the grammatical structure of the tongues spoken in Victoria, and the stories and sentences in the native language, written down exactly as spoken, and with interlinear translations, by Mr. Bulmer, Mr. Hagenauer, Mr. Hartmann, Mr. Spieseke, and Mr. Howitt; the native names of trees, shrubs, and plants; and the native names of the hills, rivers, creeks, and other natural features—will, it is hoped, be accepted as important and valuable contributions,
