We Gave Them Various Presents, Particularly Leather Belts, And
Received In Return A Great Number Of Bunches Of Goose Feathers, Which The
Natives Use To Brush Away The Flies.
They knew the white people of
Victoria, and called them Balanda, which is nothing more than
"Hollanders;" a name used by the Malays, from whom they received it.
We
had most fortunately a small collection of words, made by Mr. Gilbert
when at Port Essington; so that we were enabled to ask for water (obert);
for the road (allun); for Limbo cardja, which was the name of the
Harbour. I wished very much to induce them to become our guides; and the
two principal men, Eooanberry and Minorelli, promised to accompany us,
but they afterwards changed their minds.
My first object was to find good water, and our sable friends guided us
with the greatest care, pointing out to us the most shady road, to some
wells surrounded with ferns, which were situated in some tea-tree hollows
at the confines of the plains and the forest. These wells, however, were
so small that our horses could not approach to drink, so that we had to
go to another set of wells; where I was obliged to stop, as one of our
horses refused to go any farther. This place was about four miles E.N.E.
from our last camp. The wells were about six or eight feet deep, and dug
through a sandy clay to a stiff bed of clay, on which the water
collected.
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