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Soon after daybreak I reached the entrance of Mulligo's hut: he was alive but his respiration was scarcely visible.
It appears that some two or three months before this period Weenat, a native of the upper part of the Swan, had stolen a cloak belonging to Miago, Mulligo's brother, and had, according to their belief, from malicious motives given this cloak to one of the native sorcerers, or boyl-yas, who by this means acquired some mysterious power over either Miago or his brother, but selected the latter for his victim, when he fell and broke his back.
Weyup, the half-brother of the other native girl, was also present, and therefore evidently favoured Miago's cause. As I conceived that there was every possibility of Mulligo's having sufficient strength left to linger through the night, and as the evening was fast closing in, after a little casual conversation with the natives I returned home. June 15.
Then, suddenly, one of the women in a frenzy would start up, and standing in front of the hut, while she waved her stick violently in the air, would chant forth curses against the sorcerers, who, as she believed, had been the cause of Mulligo's sufferings.
This treatment not succeeding, and the poor fellow wasting daily away, the natives became convinced that the unfriendly boyl-yas were in the habit of rendering themselves invisible, and nightly descending for the purpose of feasting on poor Mulligo's flesh whilst he slept, and being under the influence of a charm he was not aware of what was taking place; but Moondee chose to imagine that if his wife had been more vigilant the boyl-yas might have been detected, and hence intended to spear her in the leg as a punishment for her imputed neglect.
I found that Miago's hut was close to Mulligo's, and he himself was present, ready to assert his right to the wives of his dying brother should anyone appear to dispute his claims; he was evidently well supported, for the Nagarnook family mustered strong around his hut, and the two half-brothers of one of the ladies in dispute were members of it.
The ceremonies having been thus concluded I returned to Perth. Sunday June 16. This evening I walked out to Mulligo's grave and found his old mother seated there, crying bitterly.
She had caught the Boyl-yas, she said, in the very act of sitting round Mulligo's grave, for the purpose of preying upon his miserable body, and she pointed out their tracks at the spot from which they sprung into the air, in the direction of Guildford, but European eyes were not keen enough to detect these mysterious traces of mischief. The Corrobory.
His friends however had constructed their huts within a few hundred yards of those of Mulligo's relatives, so that in the event of the arrival of the Murraymen, who they were apprehensive would make an attempt to carry off Mulligo's wives, they might be able to assist Miago in his endeavours to prevent such an outrage, whilst at the same time their proximity to his party enabled them to see that no foul play took place.
Interested by an account I had received of the boyl-yas from the women, after Mulligo's death, I endeavoured to obtain from Kaiber a more ample statement of their belief relative to these people.
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