set apart in the jungle as a man. Man, bird, and beast are all blended
in the Australian fancy as in that of Bushmen and Red Indians. All are
of one kindred, all shade into each other; all obey the Bush Law as
they obey the Jungle Law in Mr. Kipling's fascinating stories. This
confusion, of course, is not peculiar to Australian MARCHEN; it is the
prevalent feature of our own popular tales. But the Australians "do it
more natural:" the stories are not the heritage of a traditional and
dead, but the flowers of a living and actual condition of the mind. The
stories have not the ingenious dramatic turns of our own MARCHEN. Where
there are no distinctions of wealth and rank, there can be no
CINDERELLA and no PUSS IN BOOTS. Many stories are rude aetiological
myths; they explain the habits and characteristics of the birds and
beasts, and account in a familiar way for the origin of death ("Bahloo,
the Moon, and the Daens"). The origin of fire is also accounted for in
what may almost be called a scientific way. Once discovered, it is, of
course, stolen from the original proprietors. A savage cannot believe
that the first owners of fire would give the secret away. The inventors
of the myth of Prometheus were of the same mind.

On the whole the stories, perhaps, most resemble those from the Zulu in
character, though these represent a much higher grade of civilisation.
The struggle for food and water, desperately absorbing, is the
perpetual theme, and no wonder, for the narrators dwell in a dry and
thirsty land, and till not, nor sow, nor keep any domestic animals. We
see the cunning of the savage in the devices for hunting, especially
for chasing honey bees. The Rain-magic, actually practised, is of
curious interest. In brief, we have pictures of savage life by savages,
romances which are truly realistic. We understand that condition which
Dr. Johnson did not think happy--the state from which we came, and to
which we shall probably return. "Equality," "Liberty", "Community of