Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/43

 INTRODUCTION. xxxiii half to two inches in length. Most of the men had spears, waddies, and boomerangs, and some few of them shields. These are about two feet long, nine inches, wide in the centre, tapering off to a point at either end. They have only one handle, placed transversely across the middle of the back, and are used for warding off spears as they are thrown. They are made of hard wood, and are rudely carved on the face. "When the royal party arrived at the scene of action the dancers were seen lying on their backs on the ground in an irregular line, and perfectly motionless. The women were seated on the ground chanting their peculiar chant, and beating time with their hands on rugs made of opossum-skins folded on their laps, whilst some of the men accompanied them in their chant with an instrumental performance produced by knocking sticks together. After a few moments, the wild chorus seemed to wake the blackfellows into life. First their feet began to quiverthen they raised their right legs so as to rest the feet upon their left kneesthe left legs were then gradually drawn up, and, after rising to a sitting posture, the men suddenly started to their feet, and broke into a strange antic-dance. Their voices then swelled the song of the women, and their action was carried on in the most admirable time. They moved with as much ease and regularity as welldrilled soldiers, apparently adapting their movements to the words which formed the burden of their song. As each part of the dance came to an end, they gathered together in a crowd, and, after brandishing their weapons in a way by no means agreeable to those who were not acquainted with their peaceful nature, gave vent to a long, deep, protracted ugh! in an inexpressibly comic manner. "It is not quite clear what a corrobboree is intended to signify. Some think it a war-danceothers that it is a representation of their hunting expeditionsothers, again, that it is a religious, or pagan, observance; but on this even the blacks themselves give no information. "A corrobboree never takes place except on a bright moonlit nightfor the natives have a great objection to moving about in