IN THE SCRUBLAND.

New Zealand Illustrated Magazine, Volume VIII, Issue 1, 1 April 1903, Page 55

IN THE SCRUBLAND.

By RACRY SOHLANK

4S^||i£. AN V years ago in the far, MlHlml far North, before the telejllnv/Wt S ra P n ne penetrated the £^B^LL vast interior of Australia, -tt^-5-- a d ar k-skinined people dwelt on the banks of the Alberga. The river winded in and out, mile after mile through sepia-tinted plains and wild scrublands of salt and cotton-bush ; only upon the river bank the straggling ranks of trees rose sun-dried and bent, or scanty undergrowth emerged unexpectedly beside some shallow waterhole. Beneath the gaunt eucalyptus trees the children of the scrubland erected their wurleys. They painted their bodies with red ochre, streaked with white gypsum clay from the low lying gypsum hills, built iiny fires of' the mulga and strangelyscented gidyea wood, and round the red fires at night danced weird 'iorroborees. For years and years men and women and little children lived and laughed, and grew tired,, and died in the Alberga country, the district of their tribe. It was -summer. In the campingground of the black men three wurleys stood apart from their fellows. Three spears stood upright before each entrance, for these were the homes of the chiefs. Cardiddyo (white teeth), the warrior king, Gulcoonda, the great medicineman, and Mooloolie, the young jor-roboree-maker (or poet of the people), had built their crude shelters side by side. Within a structure built of boughs, somewhat larger than its neighbours, sat an old, old man, whose skin, wrinkled as dried parchment, was in curious contrast to his grizzled white hair and

beard. His aged eyes brightened visibly as a graceful brown arm. parted the; bushes, and a young girl scrambled lightly up the river bank. Her face had little in common with that of the ordinary native girl— of an oval shape, with arched eyebrows, and the prettiest dark liquid eyes, a tiny mouth and curly brown hair through which she had twined with true womanly coquetry a string ol red native beans. She was Wye Wye, the daintiest 1 übra in the camping ground, and the darling of the old man's heart. As he watched her approach the father's face grew grave again, for the people of the tribe were saying that Wye Wye had be>witched the mighty chiefs and there would be war in the camping-ground of the wise men. It was evening. Far over the horizon the sunset faded from crimson to gold. The weird chant of the corroboree floated faintly over the scrubland as the " flour-heads/ or wise men of the tribe, sat in council round the fire heaps. The red flames flickered fantastically over their wrinkled faces, feathered headgear and painted weapons. Suddenly a young warrior sprang up out of the creek near by and strode into their midst. He was a big, burly man, perhaps in height somewhat over six feet, with firm lips and sharp eyes. Cardiddyo, the Warrior King, >vas a savage of daring and courage. " 0 wise men/ cried the' warrior, " I ask your permission to wed Wye Wye, daughter of Nanyo, my uncle ; these three moons have I spoken before the flour-head I have laid before the wurley of the old

man my offerings— emu, kangaroo, and lizard— therefore Wye Wye shall be the 1 libra of Cardiddyo." Scarcely had the chief , ceased when Gulcoonda, the old man, and brandished his boomerang. " Nay \" he cried, fiercely, " Wye Wye is mine. 1 saved the maiden trom the ' kerditcher ' (evil spirit) when she drooped in the cold of the winter. I love the maiden, and she shall be mine." The old men whispered together in alarm for the medicine-man had strange powers. Mooloolie, the young corroboreemaker, who had been hidden in the shadow of a mulga-tree, when he heard the words of his brother chiefs grasped the handle of his spear convulsively. His face grew grim with fury — the fury of a man who is suffering some great wrong. His strong frame quivered in his deep anger, until the veins stood out in knots on his copper-coloured brow. Then slowly over his features stole a look of despairing anguish. " 0 mighty wise men/ he pleaded, excitedly, " T have sung many songs to the children of the Alberga, but my love is even greater than the voice of the corroboree. She whose eyes are brighter than the sunbeams on the waters — whose teeth are as white as the blossoms on the little blue bush by the river — she is my love, give her to me, 0 mighty men !"

The wise men nodded their old heads mysteriously, and murmured vaguely for some time.

Presently one among them rose He was Nanyo, -Wye Wye's father.

" My picaninny quei (little erirl) is a good lubra," he said, " but shall the tribe come to blows over a quei ? Nay the kerdicther (evil spirit) would dry up the waters of the Alber.ga, should blood be spilt for a lubra. Then, let each chief briiTor some proof of his great power ■to the wise men, and he who is mightiest let him keep my little girl !"

Then the • wise men raised a great

shout of assent so loud and wild that the last of the little kadneys (lizards) on the river-bank scuttled far away into, the cotton-bush out of sheer fright. One morning Cardiddyo wandered through the scrubland, far from the campjng-ground of his people. .He walked for many miles without growing weary, as only a black man can walk. When the twilight gathered over, the desolate saltbush plain, and the great red moon threw flickering shadows on the Mulga trees ,he gathered his spears around him and fell asleep in the hollow of a watercourse. Next day he travelled onward until at noon he stood on the top of a white gypsum hill. Here he built a wurley and remained many sunsets alone in the wilderness. One morning he recognised on the summit of a distant mountain the smokes of three fires I—one1 — one a narrow white smoke wreathing up between two dark smokes, clearly defined against the blue sky. Cardiddyo laughed aloud for he recognised their import. " A long way away " (wonmunga goal bung). Heavy rains had fallen, and a flood of waters would pour clown the Alberta. Cardiddyo returned to his tribe. Alas ! In the camping ground all wais consternation and dismay. The people whispered ( to one. another that Gulcoonda the medicineman, 'had beheld the Evil Spirit, and he had prophesied that in another moon all the wise men should lie cold and dead. The black men and women rubbed white gypsum clay over their faces as a sign of their grief for they loved the aged fathers and wished them to live many moons. Only Cardiddyo laughed at the prophecy. " Come !" he cried, "my power over the kerditcher is more powerful. Harken to me! I will call down the waters into the Albersa,, where small pools lie dark and still.. I will make the waters clear and beautiful/

Stooping beside the river bank, with his great strong arms, Cardi'ddyo raised an immense stone that had long lain imbedded there and hoisting it upon his head, with a mighty effort, he turned and strode along the course of the dry river bed. With awe the tribe watched the movements of their chief as they followed him in single file for some distance. Muttering some unintelligible anthem, Cardiddyo eventually stooped and hurled his burden into the centre of a shallow pool beneath an overhanging tree. Then, seizing his spears from one of his attendants, he. crossed them there to mark where the rainstone lay. Two days later the flood from afar rolled down the Alberga, filling the crevices in the sun-baked channel, flowing over the dusty reeds and dea.l branches until with its miphiy power it surged over the rainstone of Cardiddyo. The warriors clapped their hands, and rejoiced, and danced mad dances around the tiny fire heaps, for surely the Warrior King was most powerful amon«T men.

But Wye Wye, the r>oor little brown-haired quei, threw her arms over her head and wept bitterly, she did not love the Chief who was bravest among- the fighting men.

All was silent in the mulga scrub. The children of the bush lay asleep in their wurleys. The. tame dingoes slumbered beside their masters, and the scattered fire-heaps smouldered into ashes, for it was m" :Kj

Suddenly a stealthy footfall broke the stillness, and Gulcoonda, the medicine man, crept out of the shadows. Softly he stole across the

camping ground to the wurleys of the flour-heads. From one sleeper to another he passed noiselessly, only stooping with a slight movement to touch the neck of each aged father with the point of a curiously sharpened bone, partly concealed in his sinewy hand. Quietly the silent figure with the cat-like tread

turned aside again into the shadowy trees, his mission fulfilled — and all was still.

No human creature awoke, no eyes watched the prick of that poisoned bone — the terribly merciless weapon of certain death ; but before the moon grew round and red, every white-bearded flour-head lay buried beneath the mulga tre-js, and their children built new wurleys far from the place where the dead men lay, and further along the river bank chanted their sorrowful wailing songs of lamentation to the memory of the good old fathers.

Gulcoonda, the medicine-man, the unsuspected murderer, lived in honour and esteem among his people, for he had prophesied what had now come to pass, and the warriors murmured one to another that the medicine-man had a stronger power than the Warrior King ; but Wye Wye, the pretty native girl, frowned and tossed her curly head in contemptuous bitterness.

About this time Mooloolie the young Corroborree-maker who like Cardiddyo, had wandered afar in the scrubland, returned to the camping-ground of his people. What power could Mooloolie possess by which he might hope to excel the prowess of his rivals ? Cardiddyo had knowledge of the secrets of the earth. Gulcoonda looked into the great secrets of life and death, and Mooloolie ? Ah ! In the' beautiful, eyes" of the brownhaired maid he had recognised the wonderful sceptre of love, and lie knew that power was the most wonderful in the wide, wide world. A strange lio-ht was in his eyes as he called his fellows about him ; they gathered around willingly, men and women and little children, to listen to what he had to tell them, for the younff poet was a favourite. Then Wye Wye lifted his spears from the ground and stood beside him wi.f,h a smilino- face.

" I go where the great Sun Ball tumbles down in the West," he said quietly, "no man shall look upon my face, or see where my foot

treads, for the great spirit will •carry me far away, and whisper beautiful songs to me, for 1 am the Corroboree-maker.

When the moon grew dim Mo-oloo* lie stole over the saltbush plainaway over the scrubland until he came to a vast plain where small sepia-tinted stones spread for many miles. Beside a solitary sand-hill stood a hollow tree. Here Mooloolie paused, and slowly out of the crevice drew a pair of curious mocassins, the soles cunningly woven of emu down.

These he slipped on his dusky feet, and with uplifted head listened intently for some minutes.

Suddenly a black figure rose up in the dim light. Her long 1 hair hung over her shoulders in wild disorder, but her dark eyes were bright with liquid light.

Upon her feet she too wore the silent shoes that left no imprint, and the old, old story was repeated. Wye Wye, with her little brown hand clasped in the strong one of

her lover, fled with him throiugih the darkness to the land of the oreat Sun Ball.

In the camping-ground, the A.l--berga tribe waited expectantly for their young chief and Wye Wye, who bad so mysteriously disappeared from their midst, but neither returned.

Far, far away from the rippling Alberga, beyond the wonderful great salt lake, which in summer glitters like crystal beneath the tropical sun, and in winter spreads its waters over the desert land past the long, dreary Macumba creek, with its dark-stemmed gidyea trees and grotesque eucalypti, stands a solitary wurley on the fertile land of the Diamantina. There, on the Queensland border, happily together, dwell Moolooiie, the young Corroborree- maker, and his beautiful brown-eyed bride.