Natives Cooeed Around
Us; And We Saw A Man And His Gin, And Farther On Two Others Busily
Occupied In Burning The Grass.
When Charley came to the lagoon he saw a
black boy, who immediately retreated out of sight.
Two straw-necked
Ibises and seven ducks were shot. Mr. Roper had suffered much by the long
rides of the last stages; but his health was improving, notwithstanding.
The Nonda tree had disappeared north of the Van Diemen, and the emu here
feeds on the fruit of the little Severn tree, which is so excessively
bitter, as to impart its quality to the meat, and even to the gizzard and
the very marrow.
As we approached the salt water, the various species of Eucalyptus, with
the exception of the box, disappeared, and various species of tea-tree
(Melaleuca) took their place; they grew even on the sands with
incrustations of salt, and gave way only to the mangroves, which were
bathed by the brine itself.
We now commenced collecting the gum of the broad-leaved Terminalia of the
upper Lynd, and boiled it for Mr. Roper, who liked it very much.
We recognised one of the kites (Milvus isiurus), which had followed us
from our last killing camp, down to the head of the gulf.
July 20. - This morning, the bullocks had strayed farther than usual, and,
whilst we were waiting for them, some natives came to the rocks opposite
our camp; and one of them beckoned me to come over to him. They had been
observing our camp last night, for some time after the rising of the
moon, and I had caused Brown to discharge his gun, in order to drive them
away. They did not, however, trouble us then any farther, but encamped at
a neighbouring lagoon; showing evidently that they expected no harm from
us. When the bold fellow invited me to come over to him, I hesitated at
first, as they might have disturbed us when loading our bullocks; but, as
the animals did not appear, I took my reconnoitring bag with some iron
nose rings, and made Brown follow me at some distance with the double
barrelled gun, and went over to them. After much hesitation, four of them
approached me. I made them presents, which gained their confidence, and
they began to examine and admire my dress, my watch, etc. It was singular
that the natives were always most struck with our hats. We made them
understand where we came from and whither we were going, and it seemed
that they understood us better than we could understand them. When the
bullocks arrived, we returned to our camp, accompanied by the natives,
who had lost all fear after the tokens of friendship they had received:
and when we started, they joined our train and guided us on their
foot-path (Yareka) along the salt water creek (Yappar.) They very much
admired our horses and bullocks, and particularly our kangaroo dog. They
expressed their admiration by a peculiar smacking or clacking with their
tongue or lips.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 169 of 272
Words from 87475 to 87986
of 141354
