FATHER ANJELLO. 157 



named Alerk speared him from behind^ spear after 

 spear followed^ and as he lay writhing" on the ground 

 his savag'e murderers literally dashed him to pieces 

 with their clubs. The account of the manner in 

 which Neinmal met his death was g'iven me by a 

 very intelligent native who had it from an eye- 

 witness, and I have every reason to believe it true, 

 corroborated as it was by the testimony of others. 



Even Port Essington was destined to become the 

 scene of missionary labours. A party of three 

 persons, sent out by the " Society for the Propag-a- 

 tion of the Faith," one an Itahan Roman Catholic 

 priest, the others lay brothers of his order, em- 

 barked at Sydney, sometime in 1847. The vessel 

 conveying them unfortunately struck on a reef near 

 the Northumberland Isles during- thp nig-ht, and 

 Father Anjello was the only one of his party saved, 

 and reached Port Essinglon in a most destitute 

 condition. Nothing- daunted, however, he com- 

 menced his labours among- the blacks, by first 

 acquiring- the native langniag-e,* in which he ulti- 

 mately became so proficient as to understand it 

 thoroug-hly. A hut was built for him at a place 

 called Black Rock, near the entrance of the harbour, 

 at the distance of 14 miles from the settlement. 



* I regret that the arrangements for this work will not admit 

 of my publishing in the Appendix a Port Essington vocabulary, 

 consisting of about 650 words, in four dialects, formed in 1844, 

 and corrected and improved in 1848 ; the MSS. will be deposited 

 in the library of the British Museum. 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



