80 APPEARANCE OF THE NATIVES. 



rendered our return to the boats certainly a work of 

 great difficulty, perhaps wholly impossible j for no 

 considerations of expediency would in my mind 

 have justified the abandonment of a defenceless 

 comrade, wounded in the common cause, either to 

 the natural dangers and privations of the country, 

 or the barbarous revenge of its inhabitants. They 

 continued in force, upon the opposite bank, for some 

 time, and then gradually withdrew. I may remark 

 that the condition and appearance of the two who 

 made themselves visible, indicated their residence 

 in a country fitted to supply abundantly all natural 

 wants. I should also state that I could not per- 

 ceive that extraordinary exaggeration of a certain 

 Jewish ceremony, that prevailed in one part of King 

 Sound. 



It is to be regretted that our position would not 

 allow us to seek the acquaintance of these people. 

 I could not help comparing the bold, fearless man- 

 ner in which they came towards us — their fine manly 

 bearing, head erect, no crouching or quailing of eye 

 — with the miserable objects I had seen at Sydney. 

 I now beheld man in his wild state ; and, reader, 

 rest assured there is nothing can equal such a sight. 

 Before me stood two of the aboriginal inhabitants of 

 Australia who had never, until then, encountered 

 the hitherto blighting look of an European. 



After a long rest, we were enabled to move on 

 again slowly in the cool of the evening, along the 

 south bank of the river, followed by one of the 



