CHAPTER VII.
MYTHOLOGY.
THE Narrinyeri call the Supreme Being by two names, Nurundere and Martummere. He is said to have made all things on the earth, and to have given to men the weapons of war and hunting. Nurundere instituted all the rites and ceremonies which are practised by the Aborigines, whether connected with life or death. On inquiring why they adhere to any custom, the reply is, because Nurundere commanded it. On one occasion I had an instance of this. I was out with the tribe on a great kangaroo hunt, at which about 150 natives were present. On reaching the hunting-ground, a wallaby, which had been killed on the road thither, was produced, and a fire kindled by the women. Then the men, standing round, struck up a sort of chant, at the same time stamping with their feet. The wallaby was put on the fire, and as the smoke from it ascended, the hunters, at a concerted signal, rushed towards it, lifting their weapons towards heaven, and making a loud shout in chorus. I afterwards learned that this ceremony was instituted by Nurundere, and it appeared to me very much like a sacrifice to the god of hunting. I have several times seen it performed since.
Although the natives say that Nurundere made all things, and that he now lives in Wyirrewarre, yet they tell many ridiculous traditions about his doings when he inhabitated the earth, as he is at one time said to have done.
He is represented to have been a great hunter, and there were contemporary with him two other remarkable hunters named Nepelle and Wyungare. According to the natives they must have been a mighty race, and the game which they pursued gigantic, for the salt lagoons are the places where Wyungare and Nepelle used to peg out the skins of the immense kangaroos which they killed, and thus denuded them of grass. A mound
