Beliefs

Transcription - Page 24

It was not surprising that with such beliefs in
ghosts as I have ecorded that the [crossed out - although struck has looked upon] the Kurnai should have looked upon the whiteman
when they first saw them as being "[mrarts?]". Such was the
idea of one of the [Brubrobury?] who when [crossed out - he saw] a child saw
a white man for the first time. He ran away believing it to be
a mrart. Partly as he said from its strange appearance and
partly because he was so "very pale".

[Left margin note bracketing from here to end of page]
White men as ghosts Section 6

I [cannot read word] the white men entered Gippsland from New South Wales
rapid rumours of their existence had passed from tribe to
tribe. [Lewin?] (messengers) had brought news of them with
exaggeration natural to rumour. The strange sight of
ships sailing past their shore had been a wonder
to the Kurnai; and the white man when he arrived
was [??] as Lo-au and his inferior Loau [??] (see p - ) or as a Mrart,
or Yamboginni that is a ghost or shadow - an
apparition of the dead. [Crossed out - These] When [Tulaba?] described
[crossed out - to] him [crossed out - his] the Kurnai in his boyhood first saw the
whiteman and cried out "Loȁn! Loȁn!" I always
observed that he looked down and moved his head
uneasily from side to side, as one would do when expected
a sudden blow. On enquiring I found that the belief was
general that the whiteman possessed a supernatural power
of the eye, to flash death to the beholder, or to draw
together the two banks of the river and thus pass over it.
This [crossed out - was] former was called "Ngŭrrŭng-mri meaning
Sinew-eye", and I [have?] [I?] by and heard that it also called
mlang-mri or [??] eye. Hence it was that when
[crossed out - the Kurnai] white men were near the Kurnai at first
would make off crying to each other "Don't look! Don't look!
or he will kill you." I think in this [??] belief we may see a disturbed
amount of the bridging of rivers and a more direct amount
of the sort of taking aim and discharging a firearm.

[Left margin note]
Combine with 8B