Page:Life and Adventures of William Buckley.djvu/70

day the women separated from the men, and painted themselves all over with white clay; and the men did so with red, at the same time ornamenting themselves with emu feathers, which they tied round their waists: they were in every other way quite naked. Some of them acted as Musicians, beating their skin rugs with sticks, which they stretched across their knees, whilst they were squatted on the ground. They then set up a dance, the men remaining as spectators, encouraging them with cheers, and all sorts of noises. This diversion finished, as usual, with a regular fight, beating each other about with their clubs most unmercifully. I afterwards understood this quarrel to be occasioned by a woman having been forcibly carried away by another tribe: one of those with us. She was living with the man who had taken her, and, as the man and woman were then both present, they wanted to chastise her for not returning to the tribe to which she belonged. In the skirmish this woman was felled by a heavy blow; seeing this, the men began to prepare for a fight also; one man threw a boomerang amongst the women, when they all ran away. The native who had stolen the girl, then came forward by himself and told them to take their revenge on him, and began to sing and jump and dance, upon which her father went up to him. They both remained quiet for some time, when the men called out to the father, telling him to let him have her, as the man she had been promised to was not worthy of her. Eventually the girl returned to her