Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/324

 242 THE PORT LINCOLN TRIBE. they begin afresh with the first one. If the proper metre or number of cadences be but observed, they care little or nothing for the meaning of the words of the song. Most songs now in vogue with them are derived from distant tribes, and I believe that they themselves understand very few if any of them; at all events they cannot explain their meaning, and seem to consider it quite unnecessary trouble to inquire into the matter. The tunes of their songs vary also considerably, some being slow and grave, others quick and lively; all of them, however, are rather monotonous, though not unpleasant, requiring only a gradual and regular rise and fall of the voice. They are very exact in keeping time, and to prevent any confusion in this respect they have recourse to their waddies, striking two of them together. The conclusion of a song is indicated by singing the last verse slowly in a subdued voice, suffering it gradually to sink until the last note becomes barely audible. For dancing the mild summer evenings are generally chosen; if the moon be shining all the time so much the better, but if not, the deficiency is made up by blazing fires. Every one engaging in the dance ornaments his person by painting two white lines on each side from the shoulders down the breast to the west, a circle round each eye, a broad streak down the nose, two or three pairs of stripes across each upper arm, and tying a bunch of green boughs inclining downward round each leg a little above the knee. If they have any white down of birds they paste a row of it across the forehead and along the margin of the hair from one ear to the other, which gives them the appearance of women in nightcaps. In their hands the dancers hold a string about four feet long, seemingly for the purpose of balancing their bodies properly. They have various kinds of dances, but the one most approved and practised consists in jumping sideways, elevating the arm on the side to which they are jumping and declining it on the opposite side. The performers drawing up in a somewhat irregular line, and at such distances from each other as will allow sufficient space for the proper display of their antics, very gradually advance to the front of the singers, when they again