124 



Quick at taking offence. 



A proud and high-tempered race. 



NEW SOUTH WALES. 



Their conflicts. 



Their corrobory dances. 



Their colour and features assimilate 

 them to the African type ; their long, black, 

 silky hair lias a resemblance to the Malays ; in 

 their language they approximate more nearly to 

 our American Indians ; while there is much in 

 their physical traits, manners, and customs, to 

 which no analogy can be traced in any other 

 people. 



They are difficult to manage, taking offence 

 easily when they are ill-treated ; and if any one 

 attempts to control, thwart, or restrain their 

 wandering habits, they at once resort to the 

 woods, and resume their primitive mode of life, 

 subsisting upon fish, grubs, berries, and occa- 

 sionally enjoying a feast of kangaroo or opossum- 

 flesh. They eat the larvse of all kinds of insects 

 with great gusto. Those who reside upon the 

 coast, fish with gigs or speai-s, which are usually 

 three-pronged ; they have no fish-hooks of their 

 own manufacture. 



When they feel that they have been injured by 

 a white settler, they gratify their revenge by spear- 

 ing his cattle ; and it is said upon good authority, 

 that not a few of the whites, even of the better 

 class, will, when they can do so with impunity, 

 retaliate in the blood of these wretched natives ; 

 and it is to be regretted that they are not very 

 scrupulous in distinguishing the guilty from the 

 innocent. 



The natives of New South Wales are a proud, 

 high-tempered race : each man is independent of 

 his neighbour, owning no superior, and exacting 

 no deference ; they have not in their language any 

 word signifying a chief or superior, nor to com- 

 mand or serve. Each individual is the source 

 of his own comforts, and the artificer of his own 

 household implements and weapons ; and but for 

 the love of companionship, he might live with 

 his family apart and isolated from the rest, with- 

 out sacrificing any advantages whatever. They 

 have an air of haughtiness and insolence arising 

 from this independence, and nothing will induce 

 them to acknowledge any human being as their 

 superior, or to show any marks of respect. In 

 illustration of this, Mr. Watson the missionary is 

 the only white man to whose name they prefix 

 " Mr.," and this he thinks is chiefly owing to the 

 habit acquired when children under his authority. 

 All others, of whatever rank, they address by their 

 Christian or surname. This does not proceed from 

 ignorance on their part, as they are known to 

 understand the distinctions of rank among the 

 whites, and are continually witnessing the sub- 

 servience and respect exacted among them. They 

 appear to have a consciousness of independence, 

 which causes them on all occasions to treat even 

 the highest with equality. On being asked to 

 work, they usually reply, "White fellow work, 

 not black fellow ;" and on entering a room they 

 never remain standing, but immediately seat 

 themselves. 



They have not, properly speaking, any distribu- 

 tion into tribes. In their conflicts, those speaking 

 the same language, and who have fought side by 

 side, are frequently drawn up in battle-array 

 against each other, and a short time after may 

 be again seen acting together. Their conflicts, 

 for they do not deserve the name of wars, are 

 conducted after the following manner. The quar- 

 rel or misunderstanding generally arises from 



some trivial affair ; when the aggrieved party 

 assembles his neighbours to consult them relative 

 to the course to be pursued. The general opi- 

 nion having been declared, a messenger is sent 

 to announce their intention to commence hostili- 

 ties to the opposite party, and to fix a day for 

 the combat. The latter immediately assemble 

 their friends, and make preparations for the ap- 

 proaching contest. The two parties on the day 

 assigned meet, accompanied by the women and 

 children. The first onset is made by the oldest 

 women (hags they might be termed) vituperating 

 the opposite side. Then a warrior advances, and 

 several throws of spears take place. These are 

 parried with much dexterity, for all the natives 

 possess great art and skill in avoiding missiles with 

 their shields. This exchange of missiles con- 

 tinues for some time, and not unfrequently ends 

 without any fatal result. When one of either 

 party is killed, a separation takes place, succeeded 

 by another course of recrimination, after which 

 explanations are made, the affair terminates, and 

 hostility is at an end ; the two parties meet ami- 

 cably, bury the dead, and join in the corrobory 

 dance. 



These dances are not only the usual close of 

 their combats, but are frequent in time of peace. 

 They appear almost necessary to stir up their 

 blood ; and under the excitement they produce, 

 the whole nature of the people seems to be 

 changed. To a spectator the effect of one of 

 these exhibitions almost equals that of a tragic 

 melodrame. 



A suitable place for the performance is selected 

 in the neighbourhood of their huts. Here a fire 

 is built by the women and boys, while such of the 

 men as are to take a share in the exhibition, 

 usually about twenty in number, disappear to 

 arrange their persons. When these preparations 

 are completed, and the fire burns brightly, the 

 performers are seen advancing in the guise of 

 as many skeletons. This effect is produced by 

 means of pipe-clay, with which they paint broad 

 white lines on their arms and legs, and on the 

 head, while others of less breadth are drawn 

 across the body, to correspond to the ribs. The 

 music consists in beating time on their shields, and 

 singing, and to it the movements of the dancers 

 conform. It must not be supposed that this ex- 

 hibition is a dance in our sense of the word, nor is 

 it like any thing that we saw in the South Sea 

 Islands. It consists of violent and odd movements 

 of the arms, legs, and body, contortions and violent 

 muscular actions, amounting almost to frenzy. The 

 performers appear more like a child's pasteboard 

 supple-Jack than any thing human in their move- 

 ments. 



This action continues for a time, and then the 

 skeletons, for so I may term them, for they truly 

 resemble them, suddenly seem to vanish and re- 

 appear. The disappearance is effected by merely 

 turning round, for the figures are painted only in 

 front, and their dusky forms are lost by mingling 

 with the dark back-ground. The trees illuminated 

 by the fire, are brought out with some of the 

 figures in bold relief, while others were indistinct 

 and ghost-like. All concurred to give an air of 

 wildness to the strange scene. As the dance pro- 

 ceeds, the excitement increases, and those who a 

 short time before appeared only half alive, become 



