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of the Australian aboriginal, is very rarely seen, and his charac- 

 teristic cunning and braggadocio has with these become more 

 strongly developed than in the more inland tribes. Vanderlin 

 Island, the largest of the Pellew Group, is the rendezvous of a 

 most determined and bloodthirsty people, who have already 

 become notorious for the murder of several white persons on this 

 river. I am quite willing to admit that some of the murders 

 committed by aboriginals have been brought about by the 

 victims, but many of the tribes with which I am now dealing 

 will take bread from you with one hand, while they murder 

 you with the other. They will resort to all sorts of schemes and 

 devices to lure you from your camp, even to the otter of their 

 women ; they will then rob your camp, and you will be extremely 

 lucky if you escape with your life. I would like to relate an 

 instance that occurred to a party coming overland from Burke- 

 town, consisting of three white men and a young Queensland 

 black boy. At about 5 p.m. they camped on the Calvert River. 

 Soon afterwards, while they were liaving their tea, two black- 

 fellows came up, and gave them to understand by signs that 

 there were two horses on a small creek close by. Two of the 

 party went to look at these horses, leaving the other white man 

 and the black boy in the camp. As soon as the two men were 

 sufficiently far away to be out of hearing, about twenty natives, 

 all having a number of spears, rushed into the camp and attacked 

 the white man and black boy. However, the man was able to 

 get hold of his repeating rifle, and after a few shots drove them 

 off. At the same time some shots w^ere heard down the creek, 

 and the two men, hurriedly returning, explained that they also 

 had been attacked, while they could see no sign of any strange 

 horses. The party then immediately saddled up, and travelled on 

 all night. This is only one of many instances in which the 

 natives have tried, and in some instances with success, to lure 

 the unwary traveller to his doom. I do not suggest that the 

 aboriginal is always to blame, but the cases in which the white 

 man brings the punishment u^Don himself are few and far 

 between ; and I wish merely to show^ how cunning they are in 

 some of their subterfuges. 



The Vanderlin tribe are expert canoeists, and are possessed of 

 some very fine canoes, made out of solid trees, which have been 

 left there by the Malays. They are particularly fond of tobacco 

 and arrack (a kind of white rum), are extremely superstitious, 

 and many of their corroborees are reiterations of deeds of 

 prowess performed by their ancestors, in which, of course, 

 nothing of the heroic is lost. One corroboree (a favourite) is 

 descriptive of a large snake that appears every year, generally 

 about the first heavy rains, and takes away an old man from 



