64 CUT THROUGH A SCRUB. [CH. HI. 



no use here. In vain did Dawkins address them thus, — 

 " What for you jerran hudgerry whitefellow ?" '• White- 

 fellow brother helongit to blackfellow."* Neither had the 

 piece of tohacco, which he had put in the stranger's mouth, 

 any effect in bringing intelligible words out of it, although 

 the poor fellow complaisantly chewed the bitter weed. He 

 readily ate some bread which was given him, and on present- 

 ing him Avith a halfpenny, he signified by gesture that he 

 should wear it at his breast, a fashion of the natives nearer 

 the colony. I placed in his hand a small tomahawk, the 

 most valuable of gifts to his tribe ; and leaving him enriched 

 thus, we quietly continued our journey, that the tribe might 

 see, our purpose had no particular reference to them, and 

 that they had no cause for alarm, as our behaviour to the 

 young man must have sufficiently testified. 



We soon after entered another extensive plain, on which 

 the rich soil, when we had got half way across, changed to 

 a stiff clay, the grass marking the change by a difference 

 of colour, being red on the clay and quite green on the other 

 soil. This clay occupied the highest part of the plain. 

 Passing through another scrub of acacia pendula, we reached 

 a still more extensive plain, and while we were crossing it, 

 I was informed, by the carpenter, that the wheels of one of 

 the carts were falling to pieces, and required immediate 

 repair. We accordingly halted, and some wedges were 

 driven into them. The thermometer here stood at 97°. A 

 brush of acacia pendula also bounded this plain on the 

 north ; and beyond it, we entered a scrub of forest-oak 

 (casuarina), which was so very thick, that we were com- 

 pelled to halt the carts until a way could be cut through it, 

 for upwards of two miles ; beyond that distance however the 

 brush opened into patches of clearer ground. We had 

 changed our course to north in the large plain, and had pre- 

 served this direction in cutting througii these scrubs. It 



• Meaning ; Why are you qfraid of a good ichitc man '! The white man 

 is tfie black man's brotlter. 



