A SOULFUL DANCE 273 



them as "Coo-bee co-tan-you," which signifies "that hole 

 made by the meteor," or, literally, " falling-star hole." 



Romance, too, follows the Hinchinbrook pinnacle. 

 Some local blacks regard it with awe, believing that it 

 covers a deep hole in the mountain in which the winds and 

 rain are pent up. When a malignant " debil-debil " lifts the 

 peak away the elements escape, roaring and hissmg with 

 anger and mischief. When tired, they retire sulkily to the 

 hole, which the " debil-debil " blocks with the monstrous rock. 

 Fine weather then prevails, and the rock, which has been 

 hidden away among the mists by the fiend, becomes visible 

 once more. 



A Soulful Dance 



Of the many corrobborees that I have witnessed, the 

 most novel in conception was performed on Dunk Island 

 by blacks who came from the neighbourhood of Princess 

 Charlotte Bay, some 200 miles to the north. 



The imitation of the frolicsome skip and wing move- 

 ments of the native companion is one of the typical dances 

 of the aboriginals frequenting open plains where the great 

 birds assemble. In its performance the men — decorated 

 with streaks and daubs of white and pink clay, and wearing 

 in their hair down and feathers — form a circle, and bowing 

 their bodies towards the centre, chuckle in undertones to 

 the pianissimo tapping of boomerangs and the beating of 

 resonant logs. In strict time, to a crescendo accompani- 

 ment, the performers throw out their arms, extend their 

 necks downward and upward, simultaneously utter squawks 

 in imitation of the bird, and finally whirl about, flapping 

 their arms, ceasing instantly by a common impulse. The 

 ballet is modelled in accordance with a study of Nature. 



The corrobboree of the Princess Charlotte Bay boys 

 also owes its origin to Nature, but Nature in one of her 

 most unpoetical moods — a mood as typical of Constanti- 

 nople as of their native shores, for its motive is nothing 



more than an everyday dog-fight, 

 s 



