We Were Here
Visited By A Tribe Of Natives, Who Were Well Acquainted With The
Settlement; They Were All Friendly, And Willing To Assist Us; And Many Of
Them Spoke Very Tolerable English.
One of them, apparently the chief of
the tribe, though a hunchback, named "Bill White," promised to guide us
to the settlement.
He gave us to understand that we had come too far to
the northward, and that we had to go to the south-west, in order to head
Port Essington, and to follow its west coast, in order to arrive at
Victoria. We were, in fact, at Raffles Bay. The natives knew every body
in Victoria, and did not cease to give us all the news; to which we most
willingly listened. They fetched water for us from a great distance, and
gave us some Murnatt, which was extremely welcome. Perceiving the state
of exhaustion and depression in which we were, they tried to cheer us
with their corrobori songs, which they accompanied on the Eboro, a long
tube of bamboo, by means of which they variously modulated their voices.
I may mention that we experienced a heavy thunder-storm during the
afternoon.
Dec. 17. - We started, with a willing guide, for the goal of our journey,
and travelled to the south-west over a hilly country, covered with groves
of the Livistona palm, which, as we proceeded became mixed with
Seaforthia (the real cabbage-palm). A fine large creek, containing a
chain of large water-holes went to the north-east, and disembogued
probably into Bremer's Bay.
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