NATIVES SEEN AT A DISTANCE. 57 



g'ood pastoral country at the back. We found no 

 fresh water during- our walk- of two ^Ye\h which 

 had been dug- by the settlers, through stiff clay, one 

 was dry, and the other contained a puddle of 

 brackish water, not fit to drink. We met with 

 few birds, but saw many tracks of emus and 

 kangaroos. 



During our stay at Port Curtis, we had no inter- 

 course whatever with the natives, although anxious 

 to establish friendly communication. With the aid 

 of the spyglass, we could occasionally make out a 

 few, chiefly women, collecting sheU-fish on the mud 

 flats of the main land, and their fires were daily 

 seen in every direction. The employment of fire- 

 arms against them on several occasions by the 

 crew of the Lord Auckland (under, apparently, 

 justifiable circumstances however), which left the 

 harbom', after repairing- her damages, only a few 

 months before our arrival, had probably taught the 

 natives to look with distrust upon white men ; and 

 they cautiously avoided our parties. 



On Facing Island, our sportsmen found little 

 inland to recompense them for their trouble, except 

 blue mountain parrots and quail 5 but along- the 

 shore, curlews, oystercatchers, and godwits, were 

 plentiful. One day I killed a bustard ( Otis Austral- 

 asiana), weighing 23|^ pounds ; the goodness of its 

 flesh was duly appreciated by my messmates. Several 

 small flocks of this noblest of the Australian game- 

 birds were seen ; but, from their frequenting- the 



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