“In former times, one of the species, inhabited Port Lincoln, his name was Kupirri, he was of stupendous size, and devoured all those who attempted to spear him. His very appearance inspired the natives with overwhelming terror, so that they lost all presence of mind, even flinging away their midlahs. At last, however, a match was found for the monster Kangaroo, in two renowned hunters, Pilla and Inda, who, falling upon its track near Port Lincoln, on the range stretching to the North, followed and overtook it on Mount Nilarro. Finding it asleep, they at once attacked it, but before they could quite kill it, their spears became blunt; they then quarrelled with each other, and Pilla stabbed his antagonist with one of the blunt spears, in many places, while he himself received a severe blow over his nose. Becoming reconciled, the friends again attacked and killed Kupirri and, on opening it, found, to their utter astonishment, the dead bodies of their comrades previously devoured by the monster. Being no less skilled in the medical art than in hunting, they succeeded in reviving and healing these unfortunate men. They all then betook themselves to roasting and devouring Kupirri in return. The feast over, and their bodies comfortably greased, they returned to their mourning families, who received them with every demonstration of joy at the happy termination of their adventures. The two heroes were afterwards metamorphosed into, and gave origin to, two species of animals—the Oppossum, and the Native Cat—retaining as such, not only their names, but also the scars of the wounds that they inflicted on each other—in the shape of a furrow down the former’s nose, and of a number of white spots sprinkled over the skin of the latter.[A]

Note 1.—In the Breccia caves of the Portland district, and elsewhere, huge bones of an extinct kangaroo have been found. It is possible, therefore, that this legend has some foundation in fact, which in the lapse of time has moulded itself in the present form.

Note 2.—“I cannot sit down without making an allusion to a cognate subject that for a very long time has occupied my attention. I allude to the legends and traditions of the aborigines of Australia. It is possible that the gentlemen present may doubt of their existence, but I beg to assure them that the tribes of Australia are not so barren in these particulars as may be imagined. There is scarcely a constellation in the heavens that has not its appropriate legend, and the animals of the land are invested with the supernatural. Capes, promontories, and islands of our shores are transformations, or are otherwise connected with legendary lore. The origin of their own species, and their various ceremonies, abound with singular and exotic ideas, and the wildest fancies. The Australian savage has his myths, legends, and poetry, like his brothers of other regions; and I mention it for the purpose of throwing out a suggestion to the members of the Philosophical Society, that it would be an interesting work, and worthy of the employment of some portion of their funds to collect and collate together these treasures, before the race disappears from off the face of the land. Sir George Grey has done as much for New Zealand, and I sincerely hope that ere long the same may be accomplished for Australia.”

[Extracted from the 4th Annual Report of the Adelaide Philosophical Society, from a paper on “The Song of Hiawatha,” by the Author.]