As he warms on the subject he ships his spear in the throwing-stick, quivers it in the air, and imitates rapidly the adventures of the fight of the coming day: then the recollections of the deeds of his youth rush through his mind; he changes his measure to a sort of recitative, and commences an account of some celebrated fray of bygone times; the children and young men crowd round from the neighbouring huts, the old gentleman becomes more and more vociferous, first he sticks his spear point under his arm and lies on his side to imitate a man dying, yet chanting away furiously all the time, then he grows still more animated, occasionally adjusting his spear with his throwing-stick and quivering it with a peculiar grace. The young women now come timidly up to see what is going on; little flirtations take place in the background, whereat the very elderly gentlemen with very young wives, whose dignity would be compromised by appearing to take an interest in passing events, and who have therefore remained seated in their own huts, wax jealous, and despatch their mothers and aged wives to look after the younger ladies. These venerable females have a dread of evil spirits, and consequently will not move from the fire without carrying a fire-stick in their hands; the bush is now dotted about with these little moving points of fire, all making for a common centre, at which are congregated old and young; jest follows jest, one peal of laughter rings close upon the heels of another, the elderly gentleman is loudly applauded by the bystanders, and, having fairly sung the wrath out of himself, he assists in getting up the dances and songs with which their evening terminates.
INFLUENCE OF THEIR SONGS.
Is a native afraid, he sings himself full of courage; in fact under all circumstances he finds aid and comfort from a song. Their songs are therefore naturally varied in their form; but they are all concise and convey in the simplest manner the most moving ideas: by a song or wild chant composed under the excitement of the moment the women irritate the men to acts of vengeance; and four or five mischievously inclined old women can soon stir up forty or fifty men to any deed of blood by means of their chants, which are accompanied by tears and groans, until the men are worked into a perfect state of frenzy.
NATIVE POETS.
A true poet in Australia is highly appreciated. Simple as their songs appear, there are in them many niceties which a European cannot detect; it is probable that what is most highly estimated by this people is that the cadence of the song, and the wild air to which it is chanted, should express well to their ideas the feelings and passions intended to predominate in the mind at the moment in which it is sung: hence we find that the compositions of some of these poets pass from family to family, and from district to district, until they have very probably traversed the whole continent; the natives themselves having at last no idea of the point where they originated, or of the meaning of the words which they sing, successive changes of dialect having so altered the song that probably not one of the original words remains; but they sing sounds analogous to these, to the proper air. And this is not confined to Western Australia, for Mr. Threlkeld, in his Australian Grammar,* says:
There are poets among them who compose songs which are sung and danced to by their own tribe in the first place, after which other tribes learn the song and dance, which itinerates from tribe to tribe throughout the country, until, from change of dialect, the very words are not understood by the blacks.
(*Footnote. Page 90.)
A family seldom make a distant friendly visit to other tribes, but they bring back a new song or two with them, and these, for a time, are quite as much the rage as a new fashionable song in England. Occasionally the songs also bear the name of the poet who composed them, though this is not often the case; there are however two or three poets in Australia who enjoy a great celebrity, but whether they are living, or belonged to ancient times, or whether they are merely imaginary beings I have never been able to discover.
DISREGARD OF EUROPEAN MUSIC. NATIVE OPINION OF EUROPEAN SINGING.