Luxuries will come too soon; let them be preceded by comforts. When industry shall have facilitated the means of procuring a subsistence, the leisure thus obtained may be employed in extending the circle of our pleasures.
On the 10th I rode to Guildford; walked thence to Perth, which I did not leave until the 12th; at Mr. Leake's, and enjoyed the grand piano which Mrs. Leake, who had recently arrived, had brought with her.
The two natives of King George's Sound (who are on their return) were greatly delighted with the music; they danced the kangaroo dance, and did everything in their power to show that they were pleased and grateful—"tank you mem, very pretty."[1] Their dance appeared to be in imitation of the chase of the kangaroo, the motions of the animal, and the panting and gestures of the person in chase. This dance was divided into different scenes or parts; the movements differing a little in each part: sometimes the dancers
- ↑ Savages in every part of the globe have a strong passion for dancing. Robertson the historian gives an interesting account of the love for this pastime evinced by the native Americans; and Raynal enters into a philosophical detail of the subject in his work on the East and West Indies. It is somewhat remarkable (observes the latter), that in the first ages of the world, and among savage nations, dancing should be an imitative art; and that it should have lost that characteristic in civilised countries, where it seems to be reduced to a set of uniform steps without meaning, &c. Raynal, vol. v., page 65.—Editor.
