THE FOUNDING OF MELBOURNE 107 



female companion. According to the journal he showed his grati- 

 tude by undertaking to lead the strangers to his tribe, mentioning 

 the names of the " chiefs ". From this point it is evident that 

 neither the journal nor the subsequent report can be regarded as 

 reliable in the matter of details, for they both proceed on the 

 assumption that lengthy conversations were carried on intelligibly 

 by the aid of the Sydney natives who formed Batman's escort, but 

 whose language was as radically different as German and English 

 are. Much, of course, may be allowed for the ability with which 

 all uncivilised races can communicate by the medium of pantomime 

 and signs, but unfortunately Batman's narratives do not rely at all 

 upon that. Allowing for a reasonable amount of exaggeration in 

 this direction then, the general tenor of his proceedings may be 

 accepted. Following their sable guide for another eight miles, in 

 the course of which they crossed the Merri Creek, they were 

 suddenly made aware that they were being pursued, and turned to 

 find their rear covered by eight sable warriors whose spears were 

 poised in a threatening attitude. As Batman's party consisted of 

 about a dozen men all armed to the teeth, this display indicated a 

 good deal of reckless courage, but the intervention of the native 

 guide whose sympathies had been secured by blankets soon pro- 

 duced a change of front, and throwing aside their spears the 

 warriors went through a process of handshaking as a preliminary 

 to accepting a few presents of tomahawks and knives. Charmed 

 with the open-handedness of the pale-faces, the natives led them a 

 mile or so to their camp on the banks of a beautiful stream of 

 water, which Batman in the glory of his discovery named after his 

 " good self ". Here he was introduced to eight " chiefs," whom he 

 describes, with a quite unfounded assumption, as possessing the 

 whole of the country near Port Phillip. At last the object of his 

 eager quest was attained. Here were the men who owned this 

 splendid land, and were alike unable and unwilling to turn it to its 

 most profitable use by stocking up. It was not for him to make 

 any deep scrutiny into the title. They were in possession, and in 

 the thousands of acres over which he had conducted his party he 

 had met no one else except the few women and children on the 

 Werribee Plains. "After a full explanation," he says, "of what 



