304 Ajjpendij: I. 



'"A few days after Mr. Wills left, some natives came down to the 

 creek to fish at some water-holes near our camp. They were civil to us 

 at first, and offered us some fish ; on the second day they came again to 

 fish, and Mr. Biirke took down two bags, which they filled for him ; on 

 the third day they gave us one bag of fish, and afterwards all came to 

 our camp. We used to keep our ammunition and other articles in one 

 gunyah, and all three of us lived together in another. One of the 

 natives took an oil-cloth out of this gunyah ; and Mr. Burke, seeing 

 him run away with it, followed him with his revolver, and fired over his 

 head, and uj)on this the native dropped the oil- cloth. While he was 

 away, the other blacks invited me away to a water-hole to eat fish, but 

 I declined to do so, as Mr. Burke was away, and a number of natives 

 were about who would have taken all our things. When I refused, one 

 took his boomerang and laid it over my shoulder, and then told me by 

 signs that if I called out for Mr. Burke, as I was doing, that he would 

 strike me. Upon this, I got them all in front of the gunyah, and fired 

 a revolver over their heads ; but they did not seem at all afraid, until I 

 got out the gun, when they all ran away. Mr. Burke, hearing the 

 report, came back, and we saw no more of them until late that night, 

 when they came with some cooked fish, and called out, " White fellow." 

 Mr. Burke then went out with his revolver, and found a whole tribe 

 coming down, all painted, and with fish in small nets carried by two 

 men. Mr. Burke went to meet them, and they wished to surround him ; 

 but he knocked as many of the nets' of fish out of their hands as he 

 could, and shouted out to me to fire. I did so, and they ran off. We 

 collected about five small nets of cooked fish. The reason he would not 

 accept the fish from them was, that he was afraid of being too friendly, 

 lest they should be always at our camp. We then lived on fish until 

 Mr. Wills returned.' 



" This method of dealing with the natives was surely, to say the least of 

 it, exceedingly injudicious. They had, it appears, always shown them- 

 selves friendly to the exjalorers ; and, in the weak state of the party, it 

 was little short of madness to run the risk of disturbing the friendly 

 relations between them and the blacks by any act of violence. And yet 

 we find Mr. Burke actually attacking them, and taking forcibly from 

 them the food which they had always shown themselves ready to give ; 



