THE CORROBOREE 



" No ceremony that to great ones 'longs." 



SHAKESPEARE. 



SUMMONED, invited, children, men, women, and picca- 

 ninnies assembled to participate in the duties and 

 recreations of the moment. 



Message-sticks had been carried into unfamiliar 

 country by nervous boys. One of the organisers at 

 ease with his pen sent to his kin formal and official 

 invitations mingled with social and affectionate greetings. 

 All responded. 



The beach sent its silent-footed contingents trailing 

 along the yellow sands, carrying in well-worn dilly- 

 bags oysters and scraps of half-baked fish smeared with 

 smoke, and gritty. All their lives had they trudged 

 along the convenient margin of the sea, where the 

 receding tide leaves a firm, level, springy track. They 

 were familiar with all its moods, and took little heed of 

 any. 



The fame of a previous Parliament had spread far 

 and wide, even to that aspect of the Dividing Range 

 which sends its waters to the great shallow gulf to the 

 west. Natives who, though living among the mountains 

 but two days' journey from the coast, had never seen 

 the sea, hastened thither in bee-line, passing through 

 unknown but not unfriendly country. Though the age 

 of tribal feuds was past, special weapons of defence 



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