Notes on Kurnai 150 pages

Transcription - Page 43

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Biraark
The Biraark Mūnjūrū [Mŭndanŭn - written above Mūnjūrū] dreamed that he [is- crossed out] was a Kangaroo
and that other Kangaroos danced with him.
After he [has - crossed out] dreamed this [several - crossed out] three times
the mrarts took him up. Before they took
him he [can - crossed out] heard them drumming
at the corroborees. I remember [one - crossed out] this Biraark
saying several times "I can hear them
beating the rugs up there!" [then - crossed out] One
night his wife shouted out "He is gone
up - he is gone up". Then we heard
the sound of voices, then as if people
jumping down on the ground. After
a time all was quiet. In the morning
the Biraark [Mūnjūrū - crossed out] Mudanŭn was found near the
camp lying on the ground with
a big log balanced in his back.
The mrarts had placed it there when
they left him. It took all the Kurnai
could do to lift it off. He seemed
as if he was asleep. When he was taken
to his camp he [sin- crossed out] began to sing
about the mrarts and about what he
had seen. Another time the mrarts
left him balanced along a thin bough
of a tree. When one of the Kŭrnai climbed
up he said "I must have been asleep there."

When the mrarts take a man up
they go up the Marangrang - I do not
know what it is like but that it is very big and
softer than a rope. The Mrarts go up first
- they are the dead men - the Biraark goes up
last. When they get up the first one makes
some signal and some one inside
opens a hole and looks down.

[written in left side margin]
Harry Stevens' Father

tŭrda Kŭrnai
lŭm or turd = dead