he lines worn by the men passed round her head once,
taking care to fix the knot in the centre of her forehead; the remainder
of the line was taken by another girl, who sat at a small distance from
her, and with the end of it fretted her lips until they bled very
copiously; Boo-roong imagining all the time that the blood came from her
head, and passed along the line until it ran into the girl's mouth,
whence it was spit into a small vessel which she had beside her, half
filled with water, and into which she occasionally dipped the end of the
line. This operation they term be-an-ny, and is the peculiar province of
the women.

Another curious instance of their superstition occurred among some of our
people belonging to a boat that was lying wind-bound in the lower part of
the harbour. They had procured some shell-fish, and during the night were
preparing to roast them, when they were observed by one of the natives,
who shook his head and exclaimed, that the wind for which they were
waiting would not rise if they roasted the fish. His argument not
preventing the sailors from enjoying their treat, and the wind actually
proving foul, they, in their turn, gave an instance of superstition by
abusing the native, and attributing to him the foul wind which detained
them. On questioning Ye-ra-ni-be respecting this circumstance, he assured
me that the natives never broil fish by night.

In a reach of the Hawkesbury, about midway up some high land, stands a
rock which in its form is not unlike a sentry-box. Respecting this rock,
they have a superstitious tradition, that while some natives were one day
feasting under it, some of the company whistling, it happened to fall
from a great height, and crushed the whole party under its weight. For
this reason they make it an invariable rule never to whistle under a rock.

Among their other superstitions was one which might be naturally expected
from their ignorance, a belief in spirits.

Of this belief we had at different times several accounts. Bennillong,
during his first acquaintance with us, described an apparition as
advancing to a person with an uncommon noise, and seizing hold of him by
the throat. It came slowly along with its body bent, and the hands held
together in a line with the face, moving on till it seized the party it
meant to visit. We were told by him and others, and that after we
understood each other, that by sleeping at the grave of a deceased
person, they would, fr