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[Page 161]
BAO-ILLI – SONGS.
149
This baoilli (in the Wolaroi dialect) is in derision of one belonging to another tribe.
His slightness is contemptuously described.
Mulla mulla gha ibbelean būlī ... A spirit like an emu, as a whirlwind,
Bunnakunni bunnakunni, ... hastens, hastens
Kirami gūnman ... lays violent hold on travelling
Dhuddī ƞaia ! ... Uncle of mine!
Inghil nūnmalinni ... exhausts with fatigue,
Būndā Wahnī. ... Then throws him down (helpless).
VI.
Some of their songs are called "ghiribal" (imitation of the notes or actions of animals).
This one represents the cry of the black musk duck, or diver (in Kamilaroi – berala.)
Ya ƞaia ƞarīnga.
(repeat ad libitum.)
Puanbu ƞi go
(repeat and transpose, ad lib.)
Mīngo ahikaraï
(repeat).
Ibbī-rī-bī tā-waƞg-ah!
Whoogh!
(At this last word the cheeks are filled out with the breath, and a sudden explosion ends the "song of the duck.")
VII.
The following "ugal" was sung at various stages along the banks of the Barwan, in 1854, by a travelling band of Aborigines, under the guidance of their Dhurumi. The song and the dramatic performance which accompanied it, were designed to disenchant the places visited, – in other words, as I was told by one of the company, "to drive away dead blackfellows." Most of the performers were marked with red and yellow clay. One was decorated from head to foot. A troop waving boughs in the air, seemed to be charging some invisible foe. And to the tramp of their feet, and the beating of sticks and of hands, a band of women and girls sang all night long these words:–
" Yūrū dhāri ƞē, yūrū dhāri ƞē,
Dūla rāƞa būrulā, yūrū dhāri ƞē!
(This is not one of the languages I am acquainted with. As far as I can judge it means – Come and sing with me; there are plenty; come and sing.)
VIII.
The next ugal was apparently composed for the chase.
Diƞa diƞa būrulā, ... Plenty of wild dogs
Murriƞa diburā ... The blackfellows are spearing them.