Two brothers, both of whom were called Naberayingamna, came to the Kakadu country, walking above ground, from a place close to what is now called Burundi. They had very long beards and were much the same as black fellows except for the fact that they were very much bigger men. They had one old and one new chipoiyu or fishing net. Travelling on, they came to a place called Ingertpu, a camp on the East Alligator River, just at the end of the tidal part. Here they threw their nets into the water and drew them out full of cat-fish. They determined to make a fire, cook and eat the fish, which, accordingly, they did. When this was over they took their nets and journeyed on to a place close to the stone which now marks the spot at which Imberombera died. They saw a snake in the grass and the younger said to the elder brother, ameina narenma, what is the snake, or, what kind of snake is that? The elder replied, It is Kintjilbara, that is, a large venomous snake, we will eat him. They caught the snake, broke its head, cut it off and threw it away. First of all they made a fire in the earth with paper bark and heated stones on it. Then they passed the snake's body through the fire so that they could easily rub the scales off. After this

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they took a stone knife and made two cuts right along the body, one on either side of the backbone and, with the same flake, they broke the latter, at intervals, along its length. When the stones were hot enough, the body of the snake was coiled round and round them, the tall end being pushed into the cut, front end; paper bark was placed above it and then the earth was filled in. When the cooking was over, a part of the under body-wall was cut off, great care being taken not to spill any of the juice in the body-cavity, because this is regarded as a great delicacy, called juri. The native telling us the tradition showed us exactly how the elder brother lifted up the snake by each end with his arms extended so that the body formed a loop from which the juri streamed into the man's mouth. The fat was cut out and eaten first, the body was then broken in pieces and the meat eaten; finally the bones were broken. When this had been done the older man took the fragments in his mouth and spat them out in all directions saying, now all men may eat Kintjilbara, bones and all.

After eating the Kintjilbara they resumed their travels and caught sight of some natives journeying to the northeast. The younger brother said to the elder, I can see a black-fellow. The elder said, Yes that is Mimonau, we will go to him. They did so and found him eating something. They said to him, ameina jau, what are you eating? He replied, ngai Kintjilbara jau, I am eating Kintjilbara. The older brother said, gnai juro, I do the same, ngai pumana noorkudua, I have eaten one. He asked the old man where his camp was and Mimonau said, Here, and asked them, ngeinyaminna wilalu, where is your camp? The elder brother replied, areyiminna breikul, we go a long way.

The two brothers then left Mimonau and, travelling

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on, came to a big blood-wood tree on which many bees were feeding on the honey in the gum-tree flowers. The younger brother said, hearing the buzzing, What is it, is it bees? Ha! Mormo! The elder brother was carrying a keerli, or stone tomahawk, which he handed to the younger man telling him to go and cut a forked stick. He himself gathered a leaf with a spider cocoon on it, which he shredded out, and, having done this, climbed the tree by means of the forked stick which was placed slanting against the trunk. He put a little bit of the web on each bee that he could reach, singing out to them to go home, and at the same time telling his brother to watch which way they went. They followed them up and put leaves into the holes they entered so that they would know, later on, where the honey-bags were. Some of the bees, on which he put web, he sent away to distant parts to make honey bags for the natives there. One he sent to Muborarari, a place between the two Alligator Rivers. When he had done this the old man went to the first honey-bag, cut it out with his stone axe and ate it. The two brothers then went back to the river, where they had left their nets in the water, took them out and brought them on with them. They came to a creek running into the East Alligator River where they found a number of natives living in bark wurleys. The men said, We can hear the black fellows' bamboo (i.e., their bamboo trumpets), we will go and look at them. They came close up to the camp and a heavy rain fell. The younger man said, I am cold, brother. When they came near they met an old man, named Pundamunga, who was out looking for sugar-bags. He was very frightened when he saw them and said, ameina, ameina, who are you, who are you? They said to him, ameina kumeri, why are you frightened? Kowe breyu,

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koyada kumeri, come here, do not be frightened. Before this they had hidden their nets.

Each of the two brothers had the skin of a Numereji snake and a separate head, like a snake. They were men, but could change themselves into snakes when they wanted to and then back again into men. As the natives say, they were Numereji men. Before coming near the camp they had put their snake skins on, but now they took them off and hid them. Pundamunga was still very frightened. They said to him, We are black-fellows, do not be frightened, where is your camp? The two men then said, gnoro kutjali, nungortji, go and light a fire, we are cold. Pundamunga accordingly went and brought a fire-stick. It went out and he brought another. This also went out. Go again, they said. He did so, a third and forth time, but it always went out. The rain meanwhile was coming down in torrents. After a fifth unsuccessful attempt, the men told him to go to his camp and stay there. He did so and slept by his fire. The other men in camp were making a corrobboree and striking sticks together. The two brothers said, We will put on our Numereji skins and eat the men. Then they went to where their skins were hidden, blew them up, took their own black-fellow skins off and went into the Numereji ones. They had heads and teeth just like a Numereji and were of huge size. After moving about for some time they went underground until they came to the camp where the natives were corrobboreeing. The natives, except Pundamunga who was asleep, knew nothing about their presence, and the two snake men first of all came out and looked at the men in camp and then, going down again, suddenly arose under the camp, smashed it into bits and then devoured everything, men, women, children, weapons, in fact the whole

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camp and all that it contained. After that they went to sleep. The hole that they made when they came out is still to be seen at Jipaiumba and also two depressions in the ground where they slept. When they awoke they travelled on and, at a place called Purluwa, vomited up the bones, which turned into stone. At Purluwa also they shed their skins and changed themselves into black-fellows, putting their Numereji skins into bags. Then they came on to Kulapari, where there is a water pool, in which they put one of their nets. During the night this changed into a Numereji which came out and went on to the plains bordering the river and then back into the latter by way of a small creek.

The elder brother woke up early next morning and went to the river to see if there were any fish in the net, but it was not there. He called out to his younger brother, chipoiyu kaio, the net is not here. Of their two nets one was an old one, the other new, and it was the latter that had gone. They put their two snake skins in the one net and then followed up the tracks of the snake that they could clearly see going across the plain. The tracks led them across the latter and then back to the mangroves, where they went into the creek. Here they decided to leave the tracks and go round and try to head the Numereji. They ran quickly and caught sight of him, shouting, Here he is. They came up and tried to pull him out, but the snake said, I will stop here, this is my home. The brothers said, We will leave him, and went back to Tjironguda, close to Imorji, two places on the East Alligator River. They travelled on and came to a spot where they made a hill, called Tjaruma. They crossed the plains, at Mijela, where there is much sand, so that the place is called Mijela wilalu--the sand

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camp. They looked up and saw a hill, called Injoanbeli and the younger man said, Brother, there are stones there. He was carrying the net with the skins in and it was very heavy. However, the older man said, We will not stop here, we will go on further. They went on to Murakamiaiji, a billabong close to the range of hills that skirts the plains, and halted beside the water, saying quialu nanjil meja, we are hungry, we will fish. The young man made a fishing line out of shredded bark and they caught and cooked some fish.

Here they left the Kakadu country and came into that of the Geimbio. The older man said to the younger, Give me a string. He only replied, um, um. They baited the line with meat and the old man caught a cat-fish. He talked to his younger brother in Kakadu, but he would not answer and only said, um, um, and nodded his head. When they tried, later on, to pull the line out they found that there was something very heavy on it. The two men pulled hard, swaying about from side to side, but could not draw it out. The older man said to the other, Go and get a strong stick and we will tie the string on and hold hard. It was all of no use and the older man, who was nearest to the water, was pulled in, though his brother held on hard, but could not keep him out. The water was very clear and the younger brother could see right down to the bottom. He said, Where is my brother? At last he threw his net in and all that he had and dived down in search of his brother. He found him, and the old man told the younger to go back to the Geimbio country and talk Geimbio; I, he said, will go down the river and talk Kakadu. The elder brother then went into his Numereji skin and slept. He has remained there ever since, and there are still old met' alive who have seen him. Later on, the salt water came

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up and mixed with the fresh, hurting his eyes, so that he went down under ground, where he can still be seen by the medicine men.

The elder brother is now the Numereji of the southern division of the Kakadu tribe. The net that changed into a snake is the Numereji of the northern division. It is supposed to live at a place called Mungaddabremner on the East Alligator River, and no native, except medicine men, go there, because they are afraid that he would pull them into the water and eat them. The younger brother is now the Numereji of the Geimbio people.

TRADITION OF ERIBINJORI, THE CROCODILE.

Two black-fellows, who were the sons of different women, each of whom, however, was called Nimbiamananogo, went out hunting with the two women, their mothers. The men caught ducks and Karakera (spur-winged plover) on the plains, while the women got plenty of Wurijonga, that is, lily-roots and seeds, in the water pools.

At this time the men had no fire and did not know how to make it, but the women did. The latter cooked their food while the men were away in the bush and ate it by themselves. When they were just finishing they saw the men returning, away in the distance. As they did not want them to know about the fire, they quickly gathered up the ashes, which were still alight, and put them up their vulvas, so that the men should not see them. When the men came close up they said, yaninga kutjali? where or which way is the fire? The women replied, kaio kutjali, there is no kutjali; and then there was a great dispute and much noise. Finally the lubras gave the men some of their cooked Wurijonga or lily

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cake. When they had eaten a great deal of meat and Wurijonga they all went to sleep for a long time. Once more, when they awoke, the men went out hunting and the women cooked their food. The weather was very hot and the remnant of the first lot of birds that the men had brought in and had not eaten had gone bad. The men brought in a fresh supply, and again, ever, when they were a long way off, they saw the fire burning brightly in the women's camp. A spur-winged plover flew up and gave warning to the women that the men were coming back. Once more, they hid the fire and ashes, in the same way as before, and, again, the men asked where the fire was; the women were positive that they had none at all. The men said, We saw it. The women replied, No, you are gammoning, we have no fire. The men said, We saw a big fire; if you have no fire, which way do you cook your food? has the sun cooked it? If the sun cooks your lilies, why does it not cook our ducks and stop them from going bad. There was no reply to this. They all went to sleep, and when they woke up the men left the women and dug up the root of an iron-wood tree and got resin (kapei) from it.

Then they each took two sticks and found that they could make fire by rubbing them on one another. They said, That is all right. They had a long talk and decided to transform themselves into Eribinjori, or large crocodiles. Up to that time there were no such creatures, and they discussed what they were to be like. First of all they took a large lump of iron-wood resin, or kapei. They made a framework for their heads out of a very tough wood, called Umbarndil, using a flat stone for the top of the head. The rest of it they modelled out of kapei. Then they gathered some of the stiff stalks

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of all everlasting plant, called Benagra-benagra, and pierced holes for the nose. This done, they went to the jungle and cut Winbegi, or cane, to make a slit for the mouth. They made two of these frameworks, one for each man, and then put the whole thing over their heads. Then in order, so the natives told us, to enable them to breathe under water, they pierced their lungs from the outside, on each side of the body, with Winbegi knives and filled them with air through the openings thus made. One man pierced his first, and as he was successful, the other did the same. Then, with his crocodile head on, one of them dived into the water and swam away under the surface for a quarter of a mile or more. When he came to the surface he sang out, I am here now. Then the second man dived in, followed after the first and found him. They said, We are here together. Then they began playing about and had a race in the water, travelling at a great pace and ending up level.

The making of the heads had taken a long time, so that they had now been away two days, and, after discussing the matter, they decided to return to camp. Before doing so, however, they laid their crocodile heads on one side, hiding them from view, so that the women could not see them. As they went back, they once more saw the lubras making fire, and, again, the plover rose and gave the women warning. They wanted to know why the men had been away so long, where they had gone to, and what they had been doing, but the men said nothing at all.

Late in the afternoon, the women took their chipoiyu, or fishing nets, and set them in the water, where they left them all night. The next morning they went early to take them out. As they went along, one said to the

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other, I wonder if we shall find any fish in them. They had no clothing on, but daubed themselves over with mud. When they reached the water pool they went in, Meanwhile, however, the men had gone ahead of them, by a roundabout track. They fixed their crocodile heads on and dived into the water, so that, when the women came up and began to try to pull their nets out, they had no idea that the men had left their camp, much less that, in the form of crocodiles, they were hanging on to, and making the nets so heavy that the women could not move them. At last the lubras put their hands into the nets to find out what was the matter. The crocodiles bit them, dragged them under water and killed them, as the natives say, wariji ge, dead altogether.

When all was over, the Eribinjori men brought the bodies out on to the bank of the water pool and said to them, Get up, go. Why did you tell us lies about the fire? But there was no reply from the women; they were completely dead.

The two men kept their crocodile heads on, but they still had black-fellow legs and arms. They stood up, stretched themselves, and shouted out that they were going to cease from being black-fellows and would always be crocodiles. They threw away their sticks and spears, in fact everything that they had, changed their bodies, arms, and legs, and then, having made themselves completely into crocodiles, dived into the water in which they have lived ever since.

TRADITION OF UNGULLA ROBUNBUN.

A woman, named Ungulla Robunbun, came from placed called Palientoi, which lies between two rivers that are now known as the McKinlay and the Mary. She

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spoke the language of the Noenmil "people" and had many children. She started off to walk to Kraigpa, a place at the head of the Wildman Creek. Some of her children she carried on her shoulders, others on her hips, and one or two of them walked. At Kraigpan she left one boy and one girl and told them to speak the Quiratari (or Quiradari) language. Then she walked on to Koarnbo Creek, near the salt water at Murungaraiyu, where she left a boy and a girl and told them to speak Koarnbut. Travelling on to Kupalu, she left the Koarnbut language behind her and crossed over what is now called the East Alligator River, to its west side. She came on to Nimbaku and left a boy and a girl there and told them to speak the Wijirk language. From here she journeyed on across the plains stretching between the Alligator rivers to Koreingen, the place to which Imberombera had previously sent out two individuals named Pundamunga and Maramma. Ungulla Robunbun saw them and said to her children, There are black fellows here; they are talking Kakadu; that is very good talk; this is Kakadu country that we are now in.

Ungulla went on until she came near enough for them to hear her speaking. She said, I am Kakadu like you; I will belong to this country; you and I will talk the same language. Ungulla then told them to come close up, which they did, and then she saw that the young woman was quite naked. Ungalla herself was completely clothed in sheets of ranken, or paper bark, and she took one off, folded it up, and showed the lubra how to make an apron such as the Kakadu women always wear now. She told the lubra that she did not wish to see her going about naked. Then they all sat down. Ungulla said, Are you a lubra, and she replied, Yes, I am ungordiwa. Then Ungulla said, I have seen Koreingen a long way off; I am going there. Where is your camp? The

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Kakadu woman said, I shall go back to my camp if you go to Munganillida. Ungulla then rose and walked on with her children. On the road some of them began to cry and she said, Bialilla waji kobali, many children are crying; ameina waji kobali, why are many children crying? She was angry and killed two of them, a boy and a girl, and left them behind. Going on, she came near to Koreingung and saw a number of men and women in camp and made her own camp some little distance from theirs. She then walked on to Koreingung and said, Here is a black-fellow's camp; I will make mine here also.

She set to work to make a shelter, saying, Kunjerogabi ngoinbu kobonji, I build a grass shelter; mornia balgi, there is a big mob of mosquitoes. As yet the natives had not seen Ungulla or her children. There were plenty of fires in the natives' camps but no mosquitoes. They did not have any of these before Ungulla came, bringing them with her. She went into her shelter with her children and slept. After a time she came out again and then the other natives caught sight of her. Some of the younger Numulakirri determined to go to her camp. When she saw them coming she went into her kobonji and armed herself with a strong stick. She was Markogo, that is, elder sister, to the men, and, as they came up, she shouted out from her bush wurley, saying, What are you all coming for, you are my illaberri (younger brothers)? I am kumali to you. They said nothing but came on with their hands behind their backs. As soon as they were close to the entrance to her shelter she suddenly jumped up, scattering the grass and boughs in all directions. She yelled loudly and, with her great stick, hit them all on their private parts. She was so powerful that she killed them all and their bodies tumbled into the water hole close by. Then she went to the camp where the women

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and children had remained behind and drove them ahead of her into the water. The bones of all these natives are still there in the form of stones with which also their spirit parts are associated. When all was over the woman stood in her camp. First of all she pulled out her kumara (vagina) and threw it away, saying, This belongs to the lubras. Then she threw her breasts away and a wairbi, or woman's fighting stick, saying that they all belonged to the lubras. From her dilly bag she took a paliarti, or flat spear-thrower {Atlatl?--jbh}, and a light reed spear, called kunjolio, and, throwing them away, shouted out, These are for the men.

She then took a sharp-pointed blade of grass called Karani, caught a mosquito (mornia) and fixed it on to his head (reri), so that it could "bite" and said, Your name is mornia. She also gave him instructions, saying, yapo mapolio, jirongadda mitjerijoro, go to the plains, close to the mangroves; manungel jereini jauo, eat men's blood; kumanga kaio mornia, (in) the bush no mosquitoes. That is why mosquitoes are always so abundant amongst the mangroves. When she had done this Ungalla gathered her remaining children together and, with them, went into the water hole.

There were a great many natives, and, after they were dead, their skins became transformed into different kinds of birds. Some of them changed into small owls, called Irre-idill, which catch fish. When they hear the bird calling out at night they say dodo, which means wait, or, later on; to-morrow morning we will put a net in and catch some fish for you. Others turned into Kurra-liji-liji, a bird that keeps a look out to see if any strange natives are about. If a man wants to find out if any strangers are coming he says to the bird, umbordera jereini einji? are men coming to-day? If they are, the bird answers, pitjit, pitjit. Others changed into Jidikera-jidikera,

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or willy wagtails, which keep a look out for buffaloes and crocodiles. Others, again, changed into dark-coloured kites, called Daigonora, which keep a look out to see if any hostile natives are coming up to "growl." A man will say to one of these, Daigonora, if he sees it in a tree, Breikul jereini jeri, that is, far away, are there men coming to growl? If the bird replies to him he knows that they are coming, but if it makes no sound, then he knows there are no strangers about. Others changed into Moaka, or crows, that show natives where geese are to be found; others into Tidji-tidji, a little bird that shows them where the sugar-bags may be secured; others into Mundoro, a bird that warns them when natives are coming up to steal a lubra. Some, again, changed into Murara, the "mopoke," which warns them if enemies are coming up in strong numbers. They ask the bird, and if it answers with a loud "mopoke" they know that there are none about and that they have no need to be anxious, but if it answers with a low call, then they know that hostile natives are somewhere in the neighbourhood, and a man will remain on watch all night. Some of the women changed into laughing jackasses.

All these birds are supposed to understand what the black-fellows say, though they cannot themselves speak. While the men were explaining matters to us they spoke to two or three wagtails that came close up and twittered. The men said that the birds wanted to know what we were talking about, but they told them that they must go away and not listen, which they did.

Before finally going into the water hole Ungulla called out the names of the natives to whom she said the country belonged. They were all the children of Pundamunga and Maramma.

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