During a lull in the skirmishing, Bussamarai convened 500 members from his
tribal amphictyony near Surat, in order to perform an unprecedented public
corroboree before the local commissioner and other settlers. The scenography for the performance, conducted under moonlight, was established by setting the stage within the clearing of an open glade, 200 yards in diameter, which was girdled by thick stands of timber. About 100 women formed into a
chorus which chanted a commentary on the sequence of mimed events, one consisting in repeating the lines fed to them by Bussamarai, who
orchestrated the event. The action unfolded to the rhythmic thumping of a sack of earth with sticks, to maintain the tempo. Lang then describes the three acts the tribe stage-managed. The first act of the corroboree was the representation of a herd of cattle, feeding out of the forest and camping on the plain, the black performers being painted accordingly. The imitation was most skillful, the action and attitude of every individual member of the entire herd being ludicrously exact. Some lay down and chewed the cud, others stood scratching themselves with hind feet or horns, licking themselves or their calves; several rubbing their heads against each other in bucolic friendliness. The second act then began: A party of blacks was seen creeping towards the cattle, taking all the usual precautions, such as keeping to windward, in order to prevent the herd from being alarmed. They got up close to the cattle at last, and speared two head, to the intense delight of the black spectators, who applauded rapturously. The hunters next went through the various operations of skinning, cutting up, and carrying away the pieces, the whole process being carried out with the most minute exactness. The third and final act consisted of a pitched battle between the marauding Aborigines and the stock owners. It began: with the sound of horses galloping through the timber, followed by the appearance of a party of whites on horseback, remarkably well got up. The face was painted whity brown, with an imitation of the
cabbage-tree hat; the bodies were painted, some blue and others red, to represent the shirts: below the waist was a resemblance of the
moleskin trousers, the legs being covered with reeds, tied all round, to imitate the hide leggings worn in that district as a protection against the
brigalow scrub. These manufactured whites at once wheeled to the right, fired, and drove the blacks before them! the latter soon rallied, however, and a desperate fight ensued, the blacks extending their flanks and driving back the whites. The fictitious white men bit the cartridges, put on the caps, and went through all the forms of loading, firing, wheeling their horses, assisting each other, &c., with an exactness which proved personal observation. The native spectators groaned whenever a black-fellow fell, but cheered lustily when a white bit the dust; and at length, after the ground had been fought over and over again, the whites were ignominiously driven from the field, amidst the frantic delight of the natives, while Eaglehawk worked himself into such a violent state of excitement that at one time the play seemed likely to terminate in a real and deadly fight. ==Alternative names==