Nothing But Bare Rock Rose
All Round, And On This We Made Camp, Turning The Camels Out At The Foot
Of The Cliffs Where A Few Bushes Grew.
Godfrey and Warri meanwhile had followed the blacks into the caves, and
now returned with two of the finest men I have seen in the interior.
One,
a boy, apparently about eighteen years old, splendidly formed and
strongly built, standing nearly six feet high; the other a man of mature
years, not so tall but very broad and well-made. The boy had no hair on
his face, the man a short beard and moustaches, and both had a far better
cast of features than any I have seen further south. Their skin, too,
instead of being black, was a shining reddish-brown colour; this was
perhaps produced by red ochre and grease rubbed in, but in any case it
gave them a finer appearance. Both were quite without clothing or
ornament, nor did I notice any of the usual scars upon their bodies;
their well-fed frames made us hope that a change in the country was close
at hand.
These natives showed no fear or surprise when once in the camp, and,
examining our packs and saddles, sat "jabbering" away quite contented,
until Breaden struck a match to light his pipe. This so alarmed them that
they bolted. We did not attempt to stop the boy, but detained the man, as
I wished for further information about waters, and was also anxious to
study his habits. He had evidently been in touch with blacks from settled
parts, for he knew the words, "white-fella" and "womany," and had
certainly heard of a rifle, for on my picking one up and holding it
towards him he trembled with fear, and it was some time before his
confidence in us was restored. He really was a most intelligent man, both
amusing and interesting, and by signs and pantomime, repeated over and
over again until he saw that we guessed his meaning, he told us many
things. Plenty of women, old and young, were camped in one direction, and
were specially worth a visit; he knew of several watering-places, in one
of which we could bathe and stand waist-deep. So I made a compact that as
soon as he showed us this wonderful "Yowie" (his word for water) he
should go free. He seemed perfectly to understand this. Our mad friend he
hardly deigned to notice, and pointed at him in a most contemptuous way.
Now that he, the lunatic, was free to go where he liked, nothing would
induce him to leave us - he would start to go, and after a few paces
return and take up a crouching position close to the mouth of the well
where we were working, and as each bucketful of mud or moist sand was
hauled to the surface he eagerly watched it being emptied, and then
proceeded to cover himself with its contents, until at last he was hardly
distinguishable from a pyramid of mud - and a stranger object I never saw!
Towards dusk he slunk off and sat on a rock below the cliffs, where he
ate the food we had given him; and for all I know he may be there yet.
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