This paint, so much in use among them, could not be applied without a little moisture, and the lady, in drawing those marks on the face, which were so essential a part of the decoration, I observed frequently to spit in the face of her friend, whom she was employed in adorning, in order to make the white clay mark the stronger.  When they were all prepared, we walked down to the place appointed, after dark, for they prefer taking their amusement by fire-light; we found several fires lighted, and a considerable number of people assembled.  We walked round to see that there were no armed lurkers among the bushes.

The dancers being ready, we were placed in a semicircle, by Ba-na-lang, and Co-al-by, who seemed to have the chief authority and direction.  The dance was begun by a few young boys, and was encreased by men and women, chiefly by the former, until their number amounted from twenty to twenty-six.  Their dance was truly wild and savage, yet, in many parts, there appeared order and regularity:  one man would frequently single himself out from the dance, and running round the whole of the performers, sing out in a loud voice, using some expressions in one particular tone of voice which we could not understand:  he would then join the dance, in which it was observed that certain parties alternately led forward to the front, and there exhibited with their utmost skill and agility, all the various motions which, with them, seemed to constitute the principal beauties of dancing:  one of the most striking was, that of placing their feet very wide apart, and by an extraordinary exertion of the muscles of the thighs and legs, moving the knees in a trembling and very surprizing manner, such as none of us could imitate; which seemed to show that it required much practice to arrive at any degree of perfection in this singular motion.

There appeared a good deal of variety in their different dances; in one of which they paired themselves, and frequently danced back to back; they then changed suddenly and faced each other:  sometimes all the performers sat down on the ground with their feet under them, and at a particular word, or order, they all raised themselves up:  this motion they performed without any assistance from the hands; now they ran back in direct rows, then advanced in the same order; again they would form a circle, with some distinguished person in the center, and sometimes the whole of the performers would appear with a green bough in their hands, which they held up in a conspicuous manner.

In all the different figures which they performed, I observed that they generally finished by certain numbers of their principal dancers advancing to the front, and going through that favourite part of the dance, the quivering motion of the knees; whenever this was done, the whole company faced to the front and went through the same motions; but it was noticed that some were more frequently in the front than others, and those, I concluded, were such as had great confidence in their own skill in the execution of this very difficult part of the performance, and no doubt were vain enough to outshine in their ability the rest of the company.