Certainly The Blacks Are A Curious Race, The Like Of Which Was Never Before
Seen Under The Sun.
For two days after Lizzie's arrival in camp, she
refused to speak or eat; for the next two days
She ate everything she could
lay her hands on, but still kept an unbroken silence; and for another two
days, whenever she was not eating, she "yabbered" so much and so fast that
the other gins looked on aghast, unable to get a word in edgewise, so
continuous was the flow of Hinchinbrook vituperation. On the seventh day,
as if by magic, she brought her tirade to a close, went down to the creek
with the other gins to fetch water, cooked her husband's supper, appeared
perfectly reconciled to her change of life, and henceforth, from her
sharpness, the aptitude with which she picked up the broken English in
which the officers communicate with the troopers, and her great knowledge
of the surrounding country, she became a most useful acquisition to the
camp, and Dunmore used frequently to say that Lizzie was worth three extra
troopers. One of the most extraordinary things about her - and she was
not unique, for all the Australian blacks are alike constituted in this
respect - was the facility with which she seemed to rupture all the
natural ties of kinship and affection. Her own tribe - her father,
mother, sisters, all were apparently wiped from her mind as completely as
writing is removed from a slate by a sponge; or, if ever remembered, it was
never with any mark of regret.
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