herself so that her tracks were marked with streaks of blood. Deep underground she pursued her way, only twice raising her head above the ground, until she reached her camp at Ngatani maru-maru. But here she only got out of the ground as far as the top of her head, for her hair is still to be seen as dickeri (cane-grass) standing in a great depression at Ngatani maru-maru.
Notes by the Rev. O. Siebert.
Ngatani maru-maru is black child; Ngatani being the relationship of a child to its mother, while Ngatamura is the relationship to the father. Maru is black or of a dark shade.
Ngatani-maralye is light-coloured child; Maralye being light-coloured or reddish.
Kankana is to go up in the air, to mount up, also to strut.
Ngani is the intransitive "I," while Ngato is the transitive pronoun, thus Ngani Dieri kupa is "I am a Dieri boy," while ngato nandrana is "I will strike."
Tikala wapaia is the present tense of tikai to return, or rather "to go to return"; wapaia is the imperfect of ngani wapai, I go.
Wora wora wolpana, &c. = to right and left, tumbling over unexpectedly.
Wora-wora paribana = to make to lie down, to the right and left. Wora is "side," and Wora wora, "on both sides," "right and left."
Tyindi tyindina and the Bau-ung Bau-ung districts are both south-east from Innaminka on Cooper's Creek, The first is named from shining (tyindi-tyindina) stones, and the latter from the trembling of the ground (bau-ung bau-ung-ingana).
Palkana is rather "to wander," while wapana is our usual word "to go" ; the form wapaia, the imperfect of wapana, is used for "I went to wander." Daka dakala wapaia properly means "I went to cut through," or more precisely "to pierce the land." Ngarila wapaia is "I set forth to go below."
'ni is an abbreviation of Ngani, "I."
Mitani is the dative of Mita, the ground, earth.
Karku or red ochre is thought by these aborigines to be the blood of the Mura-muras; hence they often say they have smeared themselves with blood when painted with red ochre.
The two places where the Ngatani Maru-maru mother raised her hands above ground are marked by large rocks.
M. E. B. Howitt.
