72 nous EXPEDITION — NAKllATIVE. 



they iiovcf usucl the reshi t'loiii tlie rout I was at iiist cousidei'ably surpcised. 

 However, on seeoml thoughts, it did not appear so surprising. The main part of 

 the nest consists of sand grains, and without burning it completely away it would 

 be no (.'asy task to separate the resin from the sand, whilst in the case of the 

 leaves of the plants it is easy to burn them away and leave the melted resinous 

 uiass behind. I have not, amongst a large number of native implements e.xamined, 

 seen one in which sand grains, such as would certainly be founil were the resin 

 obtained from the ant nest, could l)e dittected ; but, on the other hand, it is 

 rarely that little bits of the leaves of the grass cannot be seen which have escaped 

 the lire. 



Amongst the roots of the grass 1 also found a larger form of Coccus and also 

 one special form of Inig, Init could not detect any spiicial connection between 

 them and the ants. 



(Jur stay at Tempe Downs gave Professor Tatcj the ojjpoi'tunity of examining 

 some fossiliferous beds fi'om which Mr. Thornton had previously obtained remains 

 of Trilobites, and the fauna of which was now more fully worked out. 



Amongst the blacks a considerable collection of native articles of various 

 kinds was made by Dr. Stirling, and as this was thi' most westerly spot at which 

 we came in contact with them in any nuudjer, and as men both of the Luritcha 

 and Arunta Tribes were gathered together. Dr. Stirling's time was fully occupied. 

 At night time corrobb(jrees were held. A place was cleared in the scrub and tires 

 lighted at either end. At one end sat the audience, whilst the p(!r-forniers danced 

 up and down the open space keeping time to the chanting of the audience, who 

 also beat upon the ground with sticks. The litful light shining on the white 

 trunks of the gum trees and on the decorated bodies of the performers and the 

 low monotonous chanting, at ont; time Ijreaking into a louder refrain and tlu'U 

 dying away into a murmur, produced a curiously weird eti'ect. Each corrobboree 

 has its set parts or "figures," and each performm- has his own part to play, for of 

 course the dancing is contined to the men, the women Ijeing merely spectators. 

 Each corrobboree also is associated with some special object such as, for example, 

 the emu, or wild cat (Dasyurus) or wild dog (Dingo). The one which we saw at 

 Tempe Downs has been described by ])r. Stirling in the Anthropological section. 



Whilst the chanting is not by any means devoid (jf a curious and quaint 

 musical I'hythm of a simple nature, the musical instruments are of the simplest 

 and most primitive nature. 



In the tirst place, if it can be called a musical instrument at all, there is the 

 flattened stick with which, by beating monotonously on thi; ground, the time is 



