The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-09-20
DRAMAS OF THE NATIVES
PRIMITIVE CORROBORIES OF
 AUSTRALIAN PEOPLES,

senting Them-Kinship to Civilized
 stage-sOme of the Subjects Used.
 1t has been the custom to treat the corroboree as merely a wild native dance, but its significance is greater than this As an art form it is akin to the modern musical comedy, but 1t is generally infused with a crude spirit of poetry, which the latter lacks. Of course, dancing in some form or other is the natural expression of healthy human beings, and most races have their form of national dance. Of late years, however, these forms have been chiefly confined to the hired performers of the ballet and have lost their emo tional meaning, but the corroboree is a genuine outlet to the feelings of the aboriginals. Into it they have woven all their tales of romance and their inn aginative dreams.
 Some of these corroboree tales have a pathos and poignancy which show a true literary instinct in their creators Others have quaint flavor of moral ity. Take this one for instance, which is general in some form or other among all the northwestern tribes:
 A native was returning from the hunt, with his bags laden with game. An innocent bird hovered above his head, and at length settled on a tree before him, Out of wantonness he lifted his boomerang and threw 1t with force at the bird. But it happened that the god Targan had known the wickedness of his heart, and had taken the shape of a bird to tempt him. So the boomerang flew wide of its mark 1 and coming back with the sWiftness of a lightning flash, struck its thrower dead to the ground.
 There is q trace of universal morali- ty about this that argues a people not altogether devoid of the ethical sense. | To tell the truth, however, it is rather in the nature of an exception. Most of | the corroberee tales have for their hero the wickedly clever man, or the strong pitiless overman, who treads every one mercilessly beneath him. Others are merely fantastic dreams, handed down | from generation to generation, as the folklore of the tribe. Here is one of the latter variety, paraphrased from the "reminiscences of T. Petrie, one of the oldest of Queensland settlers:
 Three brothers living on an island in the sea loved the same girl, the daugh- ter of a great chief. Tn return she | loved one of them, the weakest of the three, and at length married him. To hide her away from his brothers, he carried her to a cave under the sea, and daily brought her food. Their sus- picions were aroused and they were eaten up with jealousy, but being double tongued, they coaxed her out with promises to build the couple a splendid new hunpy. Then they did all in their power to kill their broth CT. Ane day on the beach he was caught fast in shell, and they left him to die But a bird, with bl4od dripping from it's beak, told the girl of his fate, and she died of grief. The brothers thought th9+ by finding her lover they could being her back to life but he had drifte1 oui tD sea, turning into fish, and then lnto a beautifu' cofored rainbow. And she turned into the flowers of the bread fruit trre. so that they could always gaze upon enc another.
 It is curious to nora that the ahaI;g- Inals always retsist the. these stories come to them n their s'.ep A iran dreams a corr3ho 'ee, and while it is impressed vividly an lis heain .ells it to the head of his trio~. If the latter finds the tale striking ana suitable fer reproduction a rroclrnl;!on is made and the necessary perormcrs selected. On some occasions a whole day is de- voted to d.ess!ng an1 preparation, each man jea1 )usly concealing his form of adornment from his neigl1bJr To the onlooker, of course, there cee2ls | little variety In the garb, cnsisting as 1t does mainly of coats of grease and | feathers fixed on with blood, but the diversity lies in the diff 3rent patterns ] printed on the body with red ochre.
 The duration of the performance is necessarily regulated hy the nature Of the subject, It is no uncommon thing for one to extend itself ove" five or six nights, but the simpler ones generally | last but few hours. Among these are the little lyrical folksongs, which the aboriginals love, and of which they never seem to tire, as for instance the ! story of the water lizard
 1 A water lizard lay basking on a log by the creek It was a warm day and the 1 air was full of a pleasant heat. Pres 1 ently a native came by and hunted the lizard away. As it slipped into the wa. ter it said reproachfully, "Why, did you disturb me when I was happy in the sum-"
 The substance of this is impressed into a few four line choruses, and is sung over and over again. It is to be noted that in all these imaginative tales the lower animals take their place quite on a level with man. Birds and beasts reason with their hunters or form leagues .o Outwit them Emus and kangaroos take up their po- sitions in the councils and corroborees There is even a suggestion of a faun- like alliance with nature. In one tale a tree grows miraculously in order tc bear a hunted man up out of reach ot his enemies.
 The longer corroborees generally con- sist of accounts of wonderful floods ol bush fires. Generally, when flgh