82 Mr. Gellibrand's Memoranda of 



engagement to return to the settlement by twelve o'clock, 

 and we calculated that we were distant seventeen miles in a 

 straight line. ..... 



following their 

 tracks, and here the instinct of that noble animal was most 

 powerfully exhibited. The horses had been a circuit of at 

 least 120 miles, and had never been within ten miles of the 

 spot where we were stationed that night, and yet, instead of 

 proceeding back upon their track, the horses made a direct 

 course for the settlement round the hills, with as much care 

 and sagacity as could have been manifested had they 



We then saddled, and 

 crossed the river and continued the course to the settle- 

 ment, which we reached at five minutes past twelve. Upon 

 my arrival at the settlement, I found about one hundred and 

 fifty natives, and I learned with much concern that an act of 

 aggression had been committed upon one of the women, 

 which required my immediate attention. Without waiting 

 to refresh myself, or refit, I proceeded to the native huts, and 

 ordered the person .... 



a violent contusion upon the back part of her head, and 

 which I understood had been inflicted upon her by her hus- 

 band. It appeared that she was one of . . and 

 that the tribe had lately been on the Saltwater Eiver, and 

 near the shepherds hut on No. 10; that this woman was 

 proceeding towards the settlement to see her mother, and 

 fell in with one of the shepherds, who laid hold of her, 

 brought her to the hut, tied her hands behind her, and kept 

 her there all night, and 



expecting to obtain redress. The natives are particularly 

 jealous respecting their women, and they consider any inter- 

 course of this kind is a contamination, and in every case punish 

 the women fearfully, even to death. The natives, men, women, 

 and children, assembled around me. I explained to them, 

 through Buckley, our determination in every instance to 

 punish the white man, and to protect the native to the utmost 

 of our power, but we were not allowed to beat them . 



