The Aborigines of Western Australia

The next is a different class of song altogether, being one sung at a corroborie,- or native dance. "Like all native ditties, it is repeated almost ad infinitum. It may be said to be divided into two parts, the first terminating at the asterisk, and being sung very smoothly?the second, which is largely composed of what, in music, are called "accidentals," is sung in a very loud excited, staccato manner, and its effect may better be appreciated by the singer speaking the notes rather than singing them. What the words mean I was never able to learn. No inducement was potent enough to win from my black friends even the faintest hint as to the meaning of the song. They merely laughed, and said, "nothing tell 'em." I am, therefore, unable to furnish a translation." Ah, bar-ra-bahii-di-dur - rah bir-rin-goo-rah.Ah, (repeat six times between the dots) bar - ra - bahn - di - dur - rah, bir - rin - goo - rah,Ah, bar-ra-bahn-di-dur-rah ! Ahbar-ra-bahn-di-dur-rah ! Ah, T D.C. bar - ra - bahn - di - dur - rah ! bir - rin - goo - rah, Ah ! " The Western Australian aboriginal does not sing in his own language only, nor does he sing only when he is pleased. I have seen two native women fight with their long, thick, hard wood staffs, accompanying their thwackings with songs in which they alternately cursed and derided each other in the choicest English and native Billingsgate. Indeed, it may be said that whatever passion or feeling seizes them, the bla...