The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1903-01-09
AUSTRALIAN BUSH
HIDES MYSTERIES
Wierd Legends of Early Life In
the Dreer Wastec Of the
island Continent.
ABORIGINAL MYTHOLOGY
Natives Are BIoodthirsty and Cruel and
Very Superstitious-Tragedy and
Romance-Case of William
Perrot.

chicago IT1Dune: Australia needs q
historian to write the story of the bush,
which is fading rapidly before the de-
velopment of the commonwealth and the
all invading population. There is a mass
of story and legend, close to nature. in its
crude form, waiting to be gathered and
preserved. The wild and stirring history
of early colonial days In the most peculiar
of the worlds continents has yet to be
told with the vivifying touch Of SYM
pathy and local color required to make
it last. The country Is full Of the ele-
ments requisite and the interval of time
is not yet too wide to be bridged over.
Australia Is old-old-in the second
childhood Of its hoar antiquity. But Of
the peoples that dwelt there in ancient
days, and Of the cataclysms which nave
made the land what it Is, no history has
been written ia such as may be found
in its extinct volcanoes, it's strange mann
mails, it's weird looking gum trees. and the
legends of the blacks.
1t is a quarter of a century or over since
| the old Never-Never country ceased to be
the white mans grave, and scarcely
longer since cannibals held their orgies
| within forty miles of where Brisbane gov
eminent house stands, and wild white
men still roamed the bush.
Convicts, these, mostly, as long as penal
| SeCCleQQenCS laSIeG, anQ OcCa-
sional fugitives from New Caledonia. One
of such-an ex-chef-did for nearly a year
provide Palais Royal fare for a squatter
in the coast blocks, WI D till then had
cheerfully subsisted on salt junk and
damper, and who afterwards, SO far as
his palate went. was a spoiled man. The
tale is also told Of how a Chinaman
wrought succulent pies out of a litter OF
new born puppies.
] N,,e It'd T4o4Lczn. naIs>... =
1t is certain, however, that for those
who look, the bush has delicacies to fur
nish forth a Roman banquet. Much can
be said of the excellence Of iguana flesh;
also of a sort Of truff1e fungus to be dug
in the scrub, and Of weird but toothsome
larvae. pouched mice, and eggs of a mon
ster ant.
The Bunyip, or Debil-Debil, OF the ma
tives is a whole volume with his cloud
of superstitions and his ever changing
shapes. Sometimes he Is a bird, never
seen, but uttering a doleful wall which
has the effect of clearing from the spot
all black humanity. Or he is a fire god,
fierce and venegeful. sending madness up
on those dwelling In the scrubs-presum-.
ably because in such moist regions his
powers are limited. Or he is a gigantic
kangaroo, or the monstrous snake wa-w1,
large as 4 gum tree, or m%urriula, proto-
type Of the dingo, or native dog. Now he
Is the shapeless and invisible spirit haut-
ing a blacks burial place and causing the
tribe to migrate; and. again, the terrible
deity sending swift punishment on some
hapless gin on lulora "a black maiden) who
has violated the aboriginal code of laws,
In some respects curiously mosaic. The
metalnorphose of Debil-Debil are numer-
GUS as the avatars of Vishnu. and his
power to kill, uncircumscribed.
Held in Superstitious Awe.
The advent of the white man and his.
reception by the black bushman is re-
plete with strange Incidents and tragedies.
The first white man was a superhuman.
creature In the eyes Of the native. They
took him to be a relncarnation of one of
their own chiefs, or, as they put it, Gone
fellow black. gone bong, dead and
jumped up white man" This superstt-
tion has saved the life Of more than q
Australian castaway.
There are spirits, too, who inhabit caves,
and others that glide above. from tree to-
tree. Riding through the bush on a moon
light night, with the eerie shadows, ths 3,
monstrous shapes of vegetation, the ui-
canny cries and creepy mutterings OF
ORD, beast and reptile, any legend might.
seem to nave its foundation in reality
When a black fellow wants to PREACHER
,usly do away with a foe. he secretly
cuts off a lock of the foes hair and buries
t, invoking Debil-Debll, Who speedily
brings 1t about that the enemy gives UP
he ghost. Another method equally ef-
1cacious, Is to point at the intended VIC
lin a br1le prepared by a native doctor,
soaked in human blood, and dried over
he smoke Of certain wood, after which
soon the tribe knows that man no more
There Is no end to the superstitions con-
:erning Debil-D ebil-a European graft
apon aboriginal mythology.
Tragedies of the Bush.
h tragedies of the Bush are as many
Is the superst1tions, Lost In the Bush"
,r Found Dead in the Bush" is often
he beginning and the end Of the story.
Such tragedies happened again and
again. Many an Englishman-a college
graduate. the scapegrace of some noble
family, sent as a last hope to the colon
es-has gone under thus. "A man dead
n the push!" The news goes, brought in
~ shepherd or black boy. The nearest
magistrate is summoned. A hasty inquest
follows, and a rude burytng In a grave
beneath a gum tree. Neither prayer book
aor bible Is forthcoming, and memory
fails to recall sacred words. But some
hing must be said. Once, a hutkeeper
produced a tattered volume of "Gulltver's
rravels"-and a paragraph grabbed there
from concluded the ceremonial.
A typical case was that Of William Stat
lord Perrot, who was one time s~uperin-
.endent on a station. and afterwards ost-
Ter in an inn. who drank, gambled, joked
Ind adventured, and had even then a wild
career behind him. He had been ship
wrecked originally on the South American
coast, had lived among wandering In
iians, conveyed llamas to port, worked In
l copper mine, and learned the art Of
.hrowing the machete-it was not safe to
De with him and hts Mexican knife dur
ng a drinking bout. Perrot was unlucky.
Ind took to odd trades.
OstIer Heir to Ancient Earldom.
One day, a squatter met him waiting
1t the postofhce FOR the English mali. His
etters brought him unlocked for news,
md the crown prosecutor confirmed them.
Perrot was ostler then, and had BACKED
he crown prosecutors boots. The crown
prosecutor told him that he was undoubt-
.dly earl Of Stafford. rave him a check for
e1O0, and he took his passage home. One
hundred pounds is a big sum for even an
:arl, a shantykeeper and a crowd of
thirsty diggers to change into grog. But
he new peer managed to dispose Of q
rood Mont NJ ~ ana hofora f,a .bin coJ1oa