Page:Native Tribes of South-East Australia.djvu/439

VII full of magical ceremonies and beliefs. He has undergone fearful and impressive ceremonies, and is in a condition which would be peculiarly fitted for the practice of hypnotism.

One can understand that a youth who has passed through such an experience could never doubt the reality of the magic powers of others, even when he is conscious that he himself has no such power.

The songs and dances of the Australian aborigines are usually spoken of by our own people as "corrobborees," and this word is also frequently applied to any of their social gatherings. This application is, however, not correct, for the songs, the songs with dances, and the assemblies for social or other purposes have each its own distinctive name. The word "corrobboree" was probably derived from some tribal dialect in the early settled districts of New South Wales, and has been carried by the settlers all over Australia. It may be now considered as being engrafted on the English language.

The word "corrobboree" probably meant originally both the song and the dance which accompanied it, which is the meaning of the word Gunyeru in the Kurnai tongue.

The songs are very numerous, and of varied character, and are connected with almost every part of the social life, for there is little of Australian savage life, either in peace or war, which is not in some measure connected with song. Some songs are only used as dance - music, some are descriptive of events which have struck the composer, some are comic or pathetic. There is also an extensive class of songs connected with magic, and of these many are what may be called "incantations"—words of power, chanted in the belief that supernatural influence is, not asked, but compelled, by them, an influence for evil, or for warding off evil.

There are also songs which are only heard at the initiation ceremonies, and which are therefore not known to the uninitiated, or to women. To English ears, unaccustomed