134 Bibliographical Notices. 



premise that *' Paida" is the name of Mr. MacGillivray's particular 

 friend or ** cotaig," and apparently a good enough sort of man in 

 general : — 



" One morning, at Cape York, Paida did not keep his appointment 

 with me as usual ; on making inquiry I found that he had heen 

 squabbling with one of his wives a few minutes before, about some 

 trifle, and had speared her through the hip and groin. On express- 

 ing my disapproval of what he had done, adding that white men 

 never acted in that manner, he turned it off by jocularly observing 

 that although I had only one wife he had two, and could easily spare 

 one of them." — Vol. ii. p. 10. 



Much very valuable information as to the customs, language, &c., 

 of the Australian natives was obtained from Gi'om (the native name 

 conferred on the white woman), which could hardly have been pro- 

 cured in any other way. And we regret to be obliged to add, that 

 this information does not at all increase our aspirations after the 

 period when 



" wild in woods the noble savage ran." 



Man without culture seems to descend, morally speaking, far below 

 the level of the beast ; and for filth, cruelty, greediness and cunning, 

 it would be hard to find the equal of the Australian savage among the 

 Vertebrata. The formal details with regard to their character, given 

 by the author in the second volume and elsewhere, are fully borne 

 out, incidentally, by the painful story of poor Kennedy's expedition 

 (vol. ii. p. 117 et seq.), one of the saddest and most touching histories, 

 we may remark, which we have for a long time perused. 



Mr. Kennedy had distinguished himself in the employment of the 

 Colonial Government of New South Wales, both as Sir Thomas 

 Mitchell's second in command and as an independent explorer. A 

 young man, tall and slight, but wiry and muscular as a race-horse, 

 his physical conformation seemed to fit him for the fatigues of an 

 exploring expedition, as much as his energy and ability, combined 

 with a most amiable disposition, quahfied him to command it. Suc- 

 cess, however, was not to be his lot. 



Those who would follow him from misfortune to misfortune, up to 

 the cowardly attack by the Yagalles, in which his life was sacrificed 

 when he was almost within sight of his goal, must turn to Mr. Mac- 

 Gillivray's work. We only quote the following passage from the journal 

 of one of the survivors as an illustration of native character : — 



" About sixty natives came to the camp this morning, well armed 

 with spears, and pieces of fish, which they held up to us to entice us 

 to come to them. We took no notice, however, of their invitations, 

 but, preparing our fire-arms, we turned out. They were now closing 

 round us in all directions, many of them with their spears in their 

 thro wing-sticks ready for use, — pointing them to their own necks 

 and sides, and showing us by their postures how we should writhe 

 with pain when they struck us. Then they would change their 

 tactics, and again endeavour to persuade us that they meant us no 

 harm, but they would not lay down their spears After 



