NOTES TO CANTO II
1(p. 55). "If feeling jet pursued that state."
Though, as previously stated, the Australians had no definite creed prevalent throughout the tribes, they had legends of the supernatural, and frequently discoursed about them.
2(p. 55). "To think when soon the tree must die."
The mimosa, which bears leaves shaped like those of the sensitive plant, is short-lived.
3(p. 67). "Of the river oak, when storms at night
The gloomy mountain's echoes rouse."
Those who have heard the solemn, sighing sound produced among the boughs—one cannot say the leaves—of the casuarina will appreciate the mournful feeling which in some circumstances must arise in the mind when the melancholy sound seems to be an echo of the sense.
4(p. 67). "Though the rites of our country forbid that thy name."
The Australians scrupulously abstained from mentioning the names of their deceased friends, and were aggrieved when they heard their names referred to by strangers unacquainted with their customs. This custom produced one curious result. It sometimes happened that the name of a
