Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia Volume II Part 24

I'll spear their liver, I'll spear their bowels, I'll spear their hearts, I'll spear their loins.

As he warms on the subject he s.h.i.+ps 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 pa.s.sing 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 a.s.sists 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 circ.u.mstances 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 pa.s.sions 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 pa.s.s 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 a.n.a.logous 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 fas.h.i.+onable 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.

Their own songs are, according to their idea, the very perfection of harmony, rude and discordant as they are to our ears; perhaps no more extraordinary instance of the force of habit and diversity of taste than this could be advanced. A native sings joyously the most barbarous and savage sounds, which rend asunder the refined ears of the European, who turns away in agony from the discordant noise while the surrounding natives loudly applaud as soon as the singer has concluded. But should the astounded European endeavour to charm these wild men by one of his refined and elegant lays they would laugh at it as a combination of silly and effeminate notes, and for weeks afterwards entertain their distant friends, at their casual meetings, by mimicking the tone and att.i.tude of the white man; an exhibition which never fails to draw down loud shouts of applause.

Some of the natives are not however insensible to the charms of our music. Warrup, a native youth who lived with me for several months as a servant, once accompanied me to an amateur theatre at Perth, and when the actors came forward and sang G.o.d save the Queen he burst into tears. He certainly could not have comprehended the words of the song, and therefore must have been affected by the music alone.

ADAPTATION OF DANCES TO THEIR SONGS.

The only accompaniment to their songs used in the southern parts of the continent is the clapping of hands or the beating of a short round stick against the flat board with which they throw their spears; in this latter case the rounded stick is held in its centre, between the fingers and thumb of the right hand, and its ends are alternately struck against the flat board in such a manner as to produce a rude kind of music, in time to the air they are singing. Although this appears to be so very simple an instrument it requires some practice to beat the time accurately, and by young men who desire to have the reputation of being exquisites this is considered to be a very necessary accomplishment.

Some songs have a peculiar dance connected with them; this however is not always the case, and I have occasionally seen the same dance adapted to different songs.

Having given this general outline of their songs I will now add such a selection of them as will convey some idea of the character of their poetry, at the same time there is reason to believe that a good deal of it is traditional, and may date its origin from a very remote epoch. Some of their dances have also a very peculiar mystical character about them, and these they very unwillingly exhibit in the presence of Europeans.

The following is a very favourite song of the natives to the north of Perth; it is sung to a wild and plaintive air, and relates to some action of a native who lived in that part of the continent, of the name of Warbunga. A little boy, a descendant of his, is still living, who bears the same name.

SPECIMENS OF SONGS. EXAMPLES OF SONGS FOR VARIOUS OCCASIONS.

Kad-ju bar-dook, War-bung-a-loo, War-bung-a-loo.

Kad-ju bar-dook, War-bung-a-loo, War-bung-a-loo, War-bung-a-loo.

They then commence again, constantly repeating these words in the same order.

TRANSLATION.

Thy hatchet is near thee, Oh Warbunga, Oh Warbunga.

Thy hatchet is near thee, Warbunga-ho, Warbunga-ho, Warbunga-ho.

A favourite song of the natives in the district of the Murray in Western Australia is:

Kar-ro yool, i, yool-a!

Kar-ro yool, i, yool-a!

etc. etc. etc.

And these words they go on singing for an hour together, in the event of the absence of any of their relatives or friends upon a hunting or war excursion.

TRANSLATION.

Return hither, hither ho!

Return hither, hither ho!

The following is a very good specimen of one of their comic songs. It is often sung by the natives in the vicinity of King George's Sound.

Mat-ta, mat-ta, Yungore bya, Mat-ta, mat-ta, Yungore bya, etc. etc. etc.

TRANSLATION.

Oh what legs, oh what legs, The Kangaroo-rumped fellows, Oh what legs, oh what legs, etc. etc. etc.

FUNERAL CHANT.

Nothing can awake in the breast more melancholy feelings than the funeral chants of these people. They are sung by a whole chorus of females of all ages and the effect produced upon the bystanders by this wild music is indescribable. I will give one chant which I have heard sung upon several occasions.

The young women sing: Kar-dang.

The old women sing: Mam-mul.

Together: gar-ro.

Me-la nad-jo Nung-a-broo.

Kar-dang.

Mam-mul.

Together: gar-ro.

Me-la nad-jo Nung-a-broo.

etc. etc. etc.

TRANSLATION.

My young brother My young son (again) In future shall I never see.

My young brother My young son (again) In future shall I never see.

WAR-CHANTS. INFLUENCE OF SONGS IN ROUSING THE ANGRY Pa.s.sIONS OF THE MEN.

In this chant the old and young women respectively sing "my young son,"

and, "my young brother:" the metre and rhyme are also very carefully preserved, and the word Kardang is evidently expressly selected for this purpose; for were they speaking in prose they would use a term denoting eldest brother, youngest brother, second brother, or some similar one; whilst I have heard the word Kardang always used in this chant whether the deceased was the first, second, or third brother.

The men have also certain war-chants or songs; these they sing as they go walking rapidly to and fro, quivering their spears in order to work themselves up into a pa.s.sion. The following is a very common one:

Yu-do dan-na, Nan-do dan-na, My-eree dan-na, Goor-doo dan-na, Boon-gal-la dan-na, Gonog-o dan-na, Dow-al dan-na, Nar-ra dan-na.

etc. etc. etc.