We Neglected No
Opportunity Of Gaining Information About Both The Shipwrecked Crew And The
Unknown White Man, Whose Grave We
Were to visit on the following morning.
Through Lizzie we questioned different individuals separately, but they all
agreed that such
An event as the loss of a vessel and the arrival of her
crew amongst the blacks, could not possibly have happened without their
hearing something of it. From their imperfect knowledge of time, and their
difficulty in expressing any number higher than five, we could not form the
slightest idea how long the white man had lived among them; but they
pointed to the ranges behind the township of Cardwell as indicating the
place where he first joined them.
We camped at the opposite end of the water-hole, not thinking it judicious
to remain too close to our allies, and kept a strict watch during the
night; but we might all have enjoyed a good sleep in perfect safety, for
the blacks were far too busy stuffing themselves with emu meat to think of
treachery. Before sunrise we started, guided by our late captive and two
of his companions. After a tedious walk, we arrived at an open plain, on
which the grass was trodden down in every direction, in some places worn
quite away by the feet of the natives - for this was the great "bora
ground" of the coast tribes, where the mystic ceremonies mentioned in a
former chapter took place. Traversing the sacred plain, our thoughts busy
in conjecturing the weird scenes that the posts had witnessed, we came to a
little creek whose clear stream babbled cheerfully among the rocks, and
soon saw a giant fig-tree, which our guides indicated as being the spot we
sought.
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