Page:The Present State and Prospects of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales.djvu/170

 which consists of a kind of recitation, sometimes sung by one, and sometimes by a number, beaded by a regular leader. The dancers bold in their bands each a waddy and a shield, or, in default of these, two small pieces of wood, which they strike together during some parts of the performance; while at others they make a whizzing noise with their mouths; both of them being in time to the music. The women and children meantime sit in a circle at some distance, and mark the measure by striking with one band on a piece of kangaroo skin rolled very tight, which they bold in the other, and which serves as a kind of drum. The figure of the dance is irregular; one man at first begins by himself, then another joins him, until the whole become engaged. As they join the dance, they dispose themselves in lines, each man in the rear rank imitating exactly the movements of the man in the rank before him, or as soldiers say, of his "covering file." After some time they advance, with the chanter at their bead, towards the place where the women are sitting; the time of the music now increases in rapidity, and the performers become more violent in their gestures, accompanying the song with a stamping of the feet, until the whole thing ends with a spirited musical crash.

When I first witnessed one of these corrobarees, I was greatly struck witb the beauty and the wildness of the scene. The mild rays of the moon shining on the dewy grass, the red glare of the fire in parts illuminating the stems and foliage of the trees, but rendering the intervals of shadow deeper and more gloomy from