es about noon next day. The chiefs on
these occasions decked themselves with gorgeous cockatoo feathers, and
painted their bodies with red and yellow ochre and other glaring
pigments, each tribe having its own distinguishing marks. A couple of
hours were generally spent in dressing and preparing for the ceremony,
and then the gaily-decorated fighting-men would dance or squat round the
fires and chant monotonous songs, telling of all their own achievements
and valour, and the extraordinary sights they had seen in their travels.

The words of the songs were usually composed by the clan's own poet, who
made a living solely by his profession, and even sold his effusions to
other tribes. As there was no written language the purchaser would
simply be coached orally by the vendor poet; and as the blacks were
gifted with most marvellous memories, they would transmit and resell the
songs throughout vast stretches of country. These men of the north-west
were of magnificent stature, and possessed great personal strength. They
were able to walk extraordinary distances, and their carriage was the
most graceful I have ever seen. Many of them were over six feet high,
well made in proportion and with high broad foreheads--altogether a very
different race from the inhabitants of Central Australia. One of their
favourite tests of strength was to take a short stick of very hard wood
and bend it in their hands, using the thumbs as levers, till it snapped.
Strange to say, I failed to bend the stick more than a quarter of an
inch. The women are not very prepossessing, and not nearly so graceful
in their bearing and gait as the men. Poor creatures! they did all the
hard work of the camp-building, food-hunting, waiting, and serving.
Occasionally, however, the men did condescend to go out fishing, and they
would also organise _battues_ when a big supply of food was wanted. These
great hunting-parties, by the way, were arranged on an immense scale, and
fire figured largely in them. The usual routine was to set fire to the
bush, and then as the terrified animals and reptiles rushed out in
thousands into the open, each party of blacks speared every living thing
that came its way within a certain sphere. The roar of the
fast-spreading fire, the thousands of kangaroos, opossums, rats, snakes,
iguanas, and birds that dashed hither and thither, to the accompaniment
of bewildering shouts from the men and shrill screeches from the women,
who