HISTORICAL REVIEW OF VICTORIA. 



BUCKLEY S CAVE. 



quence. A second consort was bestowed upon him, bearing the name of Purranmurnm 

 Tallarwurnin, but he had no offspring by either wife. It was she, in her widowhood, 

 who furnished the foregoing particulars of his discovery and adoption. She added that 

 the children of the tribe always regarded him with awe as a mooroop, or spirit of the 

 departed ; and that 

 when vessels touched 

 at the coast for wood 

 and water Buckley 

 avoided making him- 

 self known to them. 

 When a wreck occurred 

 the white stranger and 

 the other members of 

 the tribe would acquire 

 what salvage they 

 could in the shape of 

 blankets, axes and use- 

 ful implements, in the 

 employment of which 

 Buckley taught them 

 to become almost as 



expert as himself. So, without seeing the face or hearing the voice of a civilized 

 being for upwards of thirty years, the bearded giant gradually lapsed into barbarism, 

 conforming in all things to the habits of his associates ; sharing in their pastimes ; 

 partaking of their food, and refraining only from the practice of cannibalism. When 

 he learned that white men had landed in Port Phillip he also discovered that some 

 of the natives, who had been threatened with punishment for stealing an axe, had 

 resolved on spearing the Europeans. Blood is thicker than water, and Buckley deter- 

 mined to prevent the attack and to obtain an interview with the strangers. He 

 intimidated the blacks by representing to them the overpowering numbers of the whites, 

 and he made a two days' journey for the purpose of discovering who the new-comers 

 were. His majestic figure, bronzed by exposure to the weather, was rendered more 

 imposing by his flowing hair, the great sweep of his beard, the growth of three- 

 antl-thirty years ; by the kangaroo-skin which enveloped his sinewy limbs, and by the 

 native weapons which he carried. He sat himself down in grim silence, and affected to 

 take no notice of the white men, who were puzzled alike by his features and his 

 demeanour. But a closer scrutiny of the former left no doubt upon their minds that 

 he was a European. To the questions which were addressed to him he could make no 

 answer. All recollection of his mother-tongue seemed to have faded out of his mind ; 

 nor was it until ten days afterwards that the secret cells of his memory began to be 

 gradually unlocked, and the language of his childhood and of his early life came slowly 

 back to him. He had escaped from the short-lived settlement at Sorrento on the 2jth 

 of December, 1803, and on the 28th of August, 1835, he experienced the gratification 

 of receiving from Governor Arthur a free pardon, which occasioned so much delight and 



