218 NEW SOBTH WALES. 



contrast in every respect than between the forests 

 of VakUvia or Chiloe and the woods of Austraha. 



At sunset, a party of a score of the black abori- 

 gines passed by, each carrying, in their accustom- 

 ed manner, a bundle of spears and other weapons. 

 By .giving a leading young man a shilling they were 

 easily detained, and threw their spears for my 

 amusement. They were all partly clothed, and 

 several could speak a little English : their counte- 

 nances were good-humoured and pleasant, and 

 they appeared far from being such utterly degra- 

 ded beings as they have usually been represented. 

 In their own arts they are admirable. A cap be- 

 ing fixed at thirty yards' distance, they transfixed 

 it with a spear, delivered by the throwing-stick 

 with the rapidity of an arrow from the bow of a 

 practised archer. In tracking animals or men 

 they show most wonderful sagacity ; and I heard 

 of several of their remarks which manifested con- 

 siderable acuteness. They will not, however, cul- 

 tivate the gi'ound, or build houses and remain sta- 

 tionary, or even take the trouble of tending a flock 

 of sheep when given to them. On the whole, they 

 appear to me to stand some few degrees higher in 

 the scale of civilization than the Fuegians. 



It is very curious thus to see, in the midst of a 

 civilized people, a set of harmless savages wander- 

 ing about without knowing where they shall sleep 

 at night, and gaining their livelihood by hunting in 

 the woods. As the white man has travelled on- 

 wards, he has spread over the country belonging 

 to several tribes. These, although thus enclosed 

 by one common people, keep up their ancient dis- 

 tinctions, and sometimes go to war with each other. 

 In an engagement which took place lately, the two 

 parties most singularly chose the centre of the vil- 

 lage of Bathurst for the field of battle. This was 



