a course of
festivities, sat down to an extraordinary _seance_ conducted by
women--very old, wizened witches--who apparently possessed occult powers,
and were held in great veneration. These witches are usually maintained
at the expense of the tribe. The office, however, does not necessarily
descend from mother to daughter, it being only women credited with
supernatural powers who can claim the position.

After the great _corroboree_ the people would squat on the ground, the
old men and warriors in front, the women behind, and the children behind
them. The whole congregation was arranged in the form of a crescent, in
the centre of which a large fire would be set burning. Some of the
warriors would then start chanting, and their monotonous sing-song would
presently be taken up by the rest of the gathering, to the accompaniment
of much swaying of heads and beating of hands and thighs. The young
warriors then went out into the open and commenced to dance.

I may as well describe in detail the first of these extraordinary
festivals which I witnessed. The men chanted and danced themselves into
a perfect frenzy, which was still further increased by the appearance of
three or four witches who suddenly rose up before the fire. They were
very old and haggard-looking creatures, with skins like shrivelled
parchment; they had scanty, dishevelled hair, and piercing, beady eyes.
They were not ornamented in any way, and seemed more like skeletons from
a tomb than human beings. After they had gyrated wildly round the fire
for a short time, the chant suddenly ceased, and the witches fell
prostrate upon the ground, calling out as they did so the names of some
departed chiefs. A deathly silence then fell on the assembled gathering,
and all eyes were turned towards the wreaths of smoke that were ascending
into the evening sky. The witches presently renewed their plaintive
cries and exhortations, and at length I was amazed to see strange shadowy
forms shaping themselves in the smoke. At first they were not very
distinct, but gradually they assumed the form of human beings, and then
the blacks readily recognised them as one or other of their long-departed
chiefs--estimable men always and great fighters. The baser sort never
put in an appearance.

Now the first two or three times I saw this weird and fantastic ceremony,
I thought the apparitions were the result of mere trickery.

But when I saw them year after year, I came to