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SKETCHES IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

as to the moon suffering from eclipse, a misfortune which is laid at Jingy's door, who is supposed to have put out the light maliciously by carrying off the moon's fat. "Quiet fellow" and "sulky fellow" have an almost equally wide range, the first signifying any conceivable degree of amiability, either in man or beast, and the latter ferocity to a like extent. The words "get down," have been chosen as a synonym of the verb "to be," and the first question of a friendly native would be "Mamman all right get down?" meaning "is father quite well?" for strange to say Mamman is the native word for "father," whilst N-angan or Oongan stands for "mother." The cry which is used by the natives to attract the attention of persons at a distance is expressed by the two syllables coo-ee, the sound of which, when long drawn out at a high pitch, is carried so far, that the early Dutch navigator who asserted that Tasman's Land was solely inhabited by "howling evil spirits," probably formed his opinion from hearing one native coo-ee to another on beholding the unusual apparition of a ship. However, if on this fact alone was based the old sailor's conclusion, a return in the flesh to take another coasting survey might result in his pronouncing the same opinion of the whole Australian continent, for the colonists have universally adopted the natives' coo-ee whenever they desire to communicate with anyone at a distance, and have no means of doing so but by the voice. People who are lost in the bush, coo-ee for help, and their friends who are looking for them coo-ee for the chance of a reply. I have been even told of a man having brought home to London a colonial wife who, alarmed at being separated from her