86 INTERVIEW OF DAWKINS WITH A TRIBE. [CH. IV. 



accomplished, and the camp selected, I rode forward in a 

 north-west direction, anxious to know more of the country 

 before us. I perceived the fires of the natives at no great 

 distance from our camp, and Dawkins went forward taking 

 with him a tomahawk and a small loaf. He soon came upon 

 a tribe of about thirty men, women, and children, seated by 

 the ponds, with half a kangaroo and some cray-fish cooked 

 before them, and also a large vessel of bark containing 

 water. Now, Dawkins must have been, in appearance, so 

 different to all the ideas these poor people had of their 

 fellow-men, that on the first sight of such an apparition, it 

 was not surprising that, after a moment's stare, they precipi- 

 tately took to the pond, floundering through it, some up to 

 the neck, to the opposite bank. He was a tall, spare figure, 

 in a close white dress, surmounted l)y a broad brimmed 

 straw hat, the tout-ensemhle somewhat resembling a mush- 

 room ; and these dwellers by the Avaters might well have 

 believed, from his silent and unceremonious intrusion, that 

 he had risen from the earth in the same manner. The 

 curiosity of the natives, who had vanished as fast as they 

 could, at length overcame their terrors so far as to induce 

 them to peep from behind the trees at their mysterious 

 visitor. Dawkins, not in tlie least disconcerted, made 

 himself at home at the fires, and on seeing them on the 

 other side, began his usual speech, " What for you jerran 

 budgery white fellow?"* &c. He next drew forth his little 

 loaf, endeavouring to explain its meaning and use by eating 

 it ; and he then began to chop a tree by way of shewing off 

 the tomahawk ; but the possession of a peculiar food of his 

 own, astounded tliem still more. His final experiment was 

 attended with no better effect; for when he sat down by 

 their fire, by way of being friendly, and began to taste their 

 kangaroo, they set up a shout wliich induced him to make 

 his exit with the same silent celerity, which no doubt had 

 rendered his debut outrageously opposed to their ideas of 



• " \\ lij arc you afraid of a good white iiiaii ?" &c. 



