The imitation of the frolicsome skip and wing movements 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 accompaniment, 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 Constantinople as of their native shores, for its motive is
nothing more than an everyday dogfight.
Shall the uncultured blacks not have their own way when they seek
entertainment, holding "as it were the mirror up to Nature," and finding
that it reflects the commonest of all themes? They among all the nations
of the world alone have discovered what to them is music and the poetry
of motion in an occurrence that has no geographical limitations, is not
restricted by language, nor to be withered by age.
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