NIGHT OF SUFFERING. Ill 



can avoid it. This was most fortunate, as, my side 

 being towards them, the spear had to pass through 

 the thick muscles of the breast before reaching my 

 lungs. Another circumstance in my favour was that 

 I had been very much reduced by my late exertions. 



The sufferings of that night I will not fatigue my 

 readers by describing ; but 1 can never forget the 

 anxiety with which Mr. Bynoe watched over me 

 during the whole of it. Neither can I forget my feel- 

 ings of gratitude to the Almighty when my sunken 

 eyes the next morning once more caught the first rays 

 of the sun. It seemed as though I could discover 

 in these an assurance that my hour was not yet come, 

 and that it would be my lot for some time longer to 

 gaze with grateful pleasure on their splendour. 



Several excursions were made during our stay 

 in search of the natives, but without success. An 

 encampment was found in the neighbourhood, near 

 a small fresh-water swamp, and by the things that 

 were left behind it was evident that a hasty retreat 

 had been made. It would have been as well 

 if we could have punished these people in some way 

 for their unprovoked attack; but to have followed 

 them far into the bush would have been quite use- 

 less. A comparison of their conduct with that of 

 the natives of Shoal Bay, confirms what I have 

 before stated of the extraordinary contrasts pre- 

 sented by the dispositions of the aboriginal inhabi- 

 tants of Australia ; for in both instances we were 

 the first Europeans they had ever encountered. 



