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 attitude 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 God 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