The Bathurst and Melville Islanders are famous for their impressive ceremonies. At most of them, a group of men stand in a semi-circle and supply the accompaniment by clapping one or both hands against thigh or buttock, producing dull, drum-like sounds by the impact; they further supplement the rhythmic sounds by crying, “brr, brr, brr” in unison with the beating. Any actors who enter the ring in front of these men frequently ejaculate a sound like a short “poop,” and this immediately solicits a concerted “iah” from all taking part.
In their corrobboree of the jungle fowl, an old man rushes into the ring, bending his arms at the elbow and holding them close against his body, while he rests his closed fists upon his chest. His attitude resembles that of a professional runner, although in reality his arms are supposed to represent the wings of the bird. The man looks about the ground, from side to side, as though in search of something. Presently he imitates the familiar call of the bird, with a shrill penetrating voice, which sounds like “he-r-r-r-l.” In answer to this, the chorus surrounding him spontaneously gives utterance to a number of short, non-articulate noises which sound like “brrl, brrl, brrl,” and are claimed to be the call of the bird’s mate. From now on the performer intermittently cries “he,” and, every time he does so, the rest of the men respond with a loud “yeh.” Then he throws sand and clouds of dust behind him with his feet, with the object of imitating the way a jungle fowl throws up earth into large mounds in which its eggs are deposited.
When the kangaroo ceremony is announced, one or two men jump into the ring, with their legs slightly bent at the knees. Their arms are held forward, bent vertically at the elbows, their hands being kept prone and partly closed. The whole posture is to resemble that of the hopping marsupial of Australia. In jumping round the space, the actor turns his head from side to side, face downwards, as though in search of food. When such is supposed to have been found, his hands may assist to support his body and the hopping ceases. His legs are then bent strongly in the knees, so that his body sinks and his buttocks come to rest immediately above the heels, or, indeed, he may squat entirely upon the ground. He now holds his hands together and passes them between his thighs to the ground, from which he scoops a quantity of sand and lifts it to the level of his mouth. Suddenly dropping the sand, the performer bounds to his feet and runs round the ring, vigorously stamping his feet and making a peculiar hissing sound. The act is frequently interrupted by cries of “poop” from the mouths of the saltant men, which are immediately responded to by the crowd with a boisterous “iah.” Then the hopping re-commences, the actor frequently stopping to scratch his leg with one of his hands held like a claw. Occasionally he lifts an arm to his mouth to lick it just like the animal itself does. The pace of the time-beaters at this stage quickens, and the actor begins to scratch all accessible parts of his body as if possessed. An unexpected “poop,” followed by a hearty “iah,” terminates this part of the performance amid loud shrieks and applause.
It is not long before two performers again leap into the ring, each armed with a light reed in his hand, resembling a spear. The above demonstration is partly recapitulated, being, however, slightly modified in that one man, at intervals, takes the part of a hunter endeavouring to drive his spear into the enraged “kangaroo” on the opposite side of the ring.
The corrobboree of a fight is presented by an imaginary spear duel between two angry men. They are “armed” with a light reed each, and upon entering the arena, composed of the time-beating chorus, place themselves in defiance of each other and cut all sorts of antics. They brandish their imaginary weapons, roll their eyes, and throw their bodies about wildly. Then they start running around the ring, slapping their thighs together, with their heads thrown back and their arms upwards.
As an instance of the clever way in which aborigines mimic special happenings or striking episodes, and also hand on the records to subsequent generations, the ship-of-war corrobboree is here briefly outlined. This is a reproduction of events which happened at Fort Dundas about a century ago, but the present day natives still enjoy looking at it and include it among their favourite turns. After the usual preliminaries, a performer rushes into the ring and stands with one leg in front of the other and slightly flexed in the knee. Throwing his head back and looking upwards, he starts a vigorous “hauling action” by alternately throwing one arm out in the direction he is looking, closing the fist and making an imaginary pull right down to his loins, while at the same time the other arm is thrown out and returned in a similar way. This act is in imitation of the hauling in of a sail on a European man-of-war, and is rhythmically followed by the time-beaters. Running to the opposite side of the ring, the same act is repeated. Then the same hauling motion is continued, but this time pulling from below upwards towards the body, in a manner suggesting the heaving of an anchor. During this performance, several sharp and harsh interjections are heard, which suggest a skit on the orders of the commanding officers; in fact, the whole ceremony is to be looked upon as a travesty of naval discipline.
During several of the performances described above, the following chant was heard, in perfect accord with the rhythmic smacks produced by the hands of the chorus:
“Tupera monan la jerra
Tupera monan la jerra,”
and