he nape or the neck of each youth, cutting broad gashes from shoulder
to hip, all the while repeating rapidly the following curious
incantation:

"Kangar-marra--marra,
Kano-marra-marra,
Pilbirri-marra-marra."

A bunch of green leaves was then fastened round each middle and above
this a girdle of human hair. They then blackened with charcoal, and
their wounds plastered with clay in order to form the hands of gristle
which they regard as an ornament upon their flesh. During this
performance the lads showed no sign of pain, although their sufferings
must have been very severe. Further ceremonies then took place, in
which the women played a part too degrading to be here set down.

That night a feast was held, with dancing, in honour of the morning's
ceremonies. The night was warm and the moon shone with a wonderful
brilliancy, casting deep shadows upon the earth. In the distance rose a
pillar of sparks and fire, which marked the place where the performers
were preparing for the corroboree, a name given to their dancing by
these savages, and presently 200 men and 60 boys in nudity came from
among the forest trees. Each dancer was provided with a bunch of leaves
fastened above the knee, which, as they stamped in unison, made a loud
switching noise. These natives were painted from shoulder to hip, with
five or six stripes rising from the breast, their faces streaked with
white perpendicular lines, making it appear as the dancing of dead
men's bones. For some time the dancers continued to stamp to and fro,
and then, assembling at a fire that burned close by, they
simultaneously sat down. Other dancers then took their places, dressed
in fur cloaks, and wearing white and yellow feathers in their hair,
their black visages rendered hideous by fish-bones stuck through the
cartilage of the nose above their thick lips. These singular beings
stamped their way backward and forward, giving vent to yells of
excitement, and causing their bodies to tremble and twitch in the most
surprising manner. The last act of this strange drama represented the
warriors sitting cross-legged round the fire, when suddenly they
simultaneously stretched out their right arms as if pointing to some
distant object, at the same time displaying their teeth and rolling
their eyes, and then, springing to their feet, they uttered a shout
that echoed for miles over the surrounding country.

And now the preparations for a feast began. A number of w