CLOUDS OF MAGELLAN. 75 



their 'gins,' or wives, — the great end, aim, and 

 ambition of all Australian force or policy — he yet 

 evidently holds these north men in great dread. 

 They are, according to his account, " Bad men — eat 

 men — Perth men tell me so : Perth men say, 

 Miago, you go on shore very little, plenty Quibra 

 men* go, you go." These instructions appear to 

 have been very carefully pressed upon him by his 

 associates, and certainly they had succeeded in in- 

 spiring him vi^ith the utmost dread of this division of 

 his fellow countrymen, which all his boasting about 

 killing some of them and taking one of their women 

 as proof of his prowess, back to Perth, failed to con- 

 ceal. He gave me this evening a new reason to 

 account for the appearance of the two small clouds 

 called after the celebrated Magellan, in the follow- 

 ing words: — " You see," said he, pointing up to 

 the sky, "little smoke." I assented at once ; for 

 certainly the clouds have vei^ much the appearance 

 of that to which he compared them: he then con- 

 tinued, — *' Perth man tell me, long, long time back, 

 he make fire, smoke go far away up, far away, stop 

 and never go away more." Miago evidently be- 

 lieved that his friend at Perth had really lighted 

 the fire, the smoke of which had thus gone up " far 

 away, far away," to '* stop and never go away more." 

 I can easily enough comprehend why the assertion 

 might be made, and possibly without any intention 

 to deceive upon the part of the asserter, who may 

 * i. e. Men of the ship. , 



