It Is Impossible To Form Any
Certain Conclusion At Present, As To The Course Taken By This Stream.
Whether It
Finds its way to the coast, or is lost like the other streams
of this country, will, I think, in
A great measure depend upon the fact
of our having crossed the highest ranges of the country. One of the men
who had taken the dogs out after kangaroos fell in with a party of
natives, among whom were some women and children. Two of the men
accompanied him to the tent. It was evident from the whole tenor of their
behaviour that they had previously heard of white people (most probably
from the settlement at New Castle); their appearance was most miserable,
their features approached deformity, and their persons were disgustingly
filthy: their small attenuated limbs seemed scarcely able to support
their bodies; and their entire person formed a marked contrast to the
fine and manly figures of their brethren in the interior. We gave them a
small turtle which we had just caught in the river, and they sat down to
dress it instantly. In fact, their cooking was very simple; the fire soon
separated the shell from the meat, which with the entrails was devoured
in a few minutes. Some of the people went to visit their camp, where they
found eight or ten men, but the women and children were sent away. The
same jealousy of women exists throughout the interior. The great number
of fallen trees was in some measure accounted for by the men observing
about a dozen trees on fire near this camp, no doubt the more easily to
expel the opossums, rats, and other vermin which inhabit their hollows.
We were not successful with our lines, though the depth and breadth of
the river had made us a little sanguine.
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