Come down to catch the snake,
O! snake-charmer, behold the standing snake.
Be sure the pipe sounds well.
Come, come, with the big snakes in the basket,
And the little ones in the lock of your hair.
When I went down the bank of the Yerracheru,
And saw the harvest cut,
The cobra crawled beneath the harvester.
Ayo! Ayo! Ayo!
To see this action song, and to hear these strange people, is one of the queerest experiences of native aboriginal life. The dancers, and the spectators who form the choir, all become very excited, and even the European, seeing the tamāsha (spectacle), is infected with the excitement. The actors are bathed in perspiration, but the dance is kept up nevertheless, and only when their large stock of palmyra leaf torches is exhausted will they stop and take their rest.”