Charley Shot Several Ducks, Which
Were Very Numerous Upon The Water.
Whilst riding along the bank of the
river, we saw an old woman before us, walking slowly and thoughtfully
through the forest, supporting her slender and apparently exhausted frame
with one of those long sticks which the women use for digging roots; a
child was running before her.
Fearing she would be much alarmed if we
came too suddenly upon her, - as neither our voices in conversation, nor
the footfall of our horses, attracted her attention, - I cooeed gently;
after repeating the call two or three times, she turned her head; in
sudden fright she lifted her arms, and began to beat the air, as if to
take wing, - then seizing the child, and shrieking most pitifully, she
rapidly crossed the creek, and escaped to the opposite ridges. What could
she think; but that we were some of those imaginary beings, with legends
of which the wise men of her people frighten the children into obedience,
and whose strange forms and stranger doings are the favourite topics of
conversation amongst the natives at night when seated round their fires?
I observed a fine sienite on several spots; it is of a whitish colour,
and contains hornblende and mica in almost equal quantities; granite was
also seen, and both rocks probably belong to each other, the presence of
hornblende being local. A very hard pudding-stone crops out about nine
miles down the river. From the ridges, hills were seen to the N.N.E. and
to the westward.
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