of trees. The Crow at once changed himself into a grub (just as
Jupiter and Indra used to change into swans, horses, ants, or what not)
and hid in the bark of a tree. The six maidens sought to pick him out
with their wooden hooks, but he broke the points of all the hooks. Then
came the queen, with her pretty bone hook; he let himself be drawn out,
took the shape of a giant, and ran away with her. Ever since there have
only been six stars, the six maidens, in the Pleiad. This story is well
known, by the strictest inquiry, to be current among the blacks of the
West District and in South Australia.

Mr. Tylor, whose opinion is entitled to the highest respect, thinks that
this may be a European myth, told by some settler to a black in the Greek
form, and then spread about among the natives. He complains that the
story of the loss of the _brightest_ star does not fit the facts of the
case.

We do not know, and how can the Australians know, that the lost star was
once the brightest? It appears to me that the Australians, remarking the
disappearances of a star, might very naturally suppose that the _Crow_
had selected for his wife that one which had been the most brilliant of
the cluster. Besides, the wide distribution of the tale among the
natives, and the very great change in the nature of the incidents, seem
to point to a native origin. Though the main conception--the loss of one
out of seven maidens--is identical in Greek and in Murri, the manner of
the disappearance is eminently Hellenic in the one case, eminently savage
in the other. However this may be, nothing of course is proved by a
single example. Let us next examine the stars Castor and Pollux. Both
in Greece and in Australia these are said once to have been two young
men. In the 'Catasterismoi,' already spoken of, we read: 'The Twins, or
Dioscouroi.--They were nurtured in Lacedaemon, and were famous for their
brotherly love, wherefore, Zeus, desiring to make their memory immortal,
placed them both among the stars.' In Australia, according to Mr. Brough
Smyth ('Aborigines of Victoria'), Turree (Castor) and Wanjel (Pollux) are
two young men who pursue Purra and kill him at the commencement of the
great heat. Coonar toorung (the mirage) is the smoke of the fire by
which they roast him. In Greece it was not Castor and Pollux, but Orion
who was the great hunter placed among the stars. Among the Bushmen of
South Africa, Castor and Pollux are not young