248 AUSTRALIAN FEMALE. 



cumstances of the deepest moment, and on occa- 

 sions of peculiar excitement :" and it is further 

 observed, that "she Avho complains the airs of 

 heaven visit her too roughly, will undergo, with- 

 out a murmur, more acute sufferings than man 

 may know : and the seeming heartless coquette, 

 who wins our contempt at the assembly, will 

 prove, in the hour of sorrow and affliction, a 

 benign and ' ministering angel.' " Perhaps some 

 may feel disappointed when they find this 

 digression only introduces a brief tale of one 

 of that degraded race — an Australian savage, 

 in whom this feeling was strong, and which oc- 

 curred in this part of the colony — not in one of 

 that amiable and gentle variety of the sex who 

 grace the assemblies and parks, and form the 

 domestic happiness in our native land. 



A female of one of the aboriginal tribes in 

 the Murrumbidgee country formed an attach- 

 ment and cohabited with a convict named Tall- 

 boy, who, becoming a bush-ranger, was for a 

 long time sought after by the police for the many 

 atrocities he had committed, but always eluded 

 pursuit. This female concealed him with true 

 native ingenuity, and baffled his pursuers — 

 she would fish and hunt for him, whilst he 

 remained secluded in the retreat she chose. 

 She often visited the stock-keepers' huts at the 

 different stations, and whatever provision she 



