hem by
imitating the cry of the kangaroo, and were generally in at the death.
Their former practice was to fire the brush-wood, in which the game had
sought shelter, and which they speared when driven out by the flames.
This practice was wasteful; besides exposing them to the charge of
arson, when they were only following the customs of the chase.

Their ability to conceal themselves, assisted by their color, proved the
quickness of their eye, and the agility of their limbs. A shooting party
approached a native camp near the Clyde, and found they had just
abandoned their half-cooked opossums and their spears: excepting a small
group of wattle bushes, at the distance of ten yards, the ground was
free of all but the lofty trees: the travellers immediately scoured this
thicket, but on turning round they, in great astonishment, discovered
that opossums and spears were all gone. It was the work of a moment, but
traces of aborigines were unseen.[32]

_Corrobories and Dances._--Their general assemblies were attended by
great numbers: at these meetings they raised large fires, and continued
dancing till midnight. They first began their movement round the pyre,
with slow steps and soft tunes: as they advanced more quickly, their
voices became more sharp and loud: they closed in upon the fire, and
leaping close to the flame appeared in considerable peril. These
movements they continued; shrieking and whooping until thoroughly
exhausted. It is hardly possible for the imagination to picture a scene
more infernal.

A gentleman, on guard during the black war, watched a small group in the
gaol yard round their night fires. One of them raised his hands, and
moved them slowly in a horizontal direction; and spreading, as if
forming an imaginary fan or quarter-circle: he turned his head from side
to side, raising one eye to the sky, where an eagle hawk was soaring.
The action was accompanied by words, repeated with unusual emotion: at
length they all rose up together, and uttered loud cries. The whole
action had the appearance of an incantation.

The dances were various. The emu dance, was intended to represent the
motions of that bird: the horse dance, necessarily modern, was performed
by their trotting after each other, in a stooping posture, and holding
the foremost by the loins: the thunder-and-lightning dance was merely
stamping the ground. Their amusements were childish, and boisterous; but
they applauded themselves with the inv