although too infirm to join in the ceremonies, gave advice to the old men. He boasted that he had the command of the tribe before his son acquired it. He was believed to be proof against magical practices, such as "striking with the bone."
Jalina-piramurana had succeeded to and indeed eclipsed his father. He was the head of the Kunaura murdu, and boasted of being the "tree of life," for the seed Kunaura forms at times the principal source of vegetable food of these tribes. He was also spoken of as the "Manyura murdul,"[1] that is, the plant itself of which the Kunaura is the seed.
I knew Jalina-piramurana when in the Dieri country before Mr. Gason went to it. He was at Lake Hope, (Pando) as I was returning to the South Australian settlements, and, to use the language of the present day, interviewed me, together with a deputation of his Pinnarus, with two requests. The first was, that I would go with him and kill all the "Kunabura-kana," that is, the men of Kunabura; who were "Malingki kana" that is, bad men; the second, that I would tell the white men who were coming up to his country, according to the information sent him by the tribes further down, that they should "sit down on the one side of Pando, and the Kana would sit down on the other, so that they would not be likely to quarrel." I can say also, that he was a courteous blackfellow, with plenty of conversation. He walked with me for some miles on our next day's journey round Lake Hope, and was much amused at my remark, when the horse I was leading suddenly terrified him by neighing close to his ear,—"Wotta yappali yenni, nanto yattana," that is, "Do not fear; the horse is talking."
I observed that there were such Pinnarus in the tribes to the north and north-east of the Dieri, for instance the Yaurorka and Yantruwunta.
When going northward from my depot at Cooper's Creek, on the occasion of my second expedition, I obtained the services of a young Yantruwunta man, who knew the country as far north as Sturt's Stony Desert. He belonged
- ↑ Manyura is Claytonia sp.
