*J9§-] OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 385 



applied alone to the head. The women who are ftruck with this wea- 

 pon always fall to the ground; but this feldom happens to the men. 



Property. 



Their fpears and fhields, their clubs and lines, &c. are their own 

 property ; they are manufactured by themfelves, and are the whole of 

 th eir perfonal eftatel But, ftrange as it may appear, they have alfo 

 their real eftates. Ben nil-long gave repeated aflurances, that the 

 ifland Me-mel (known at the fettlement by the name of Goat ifland), 

 clofe by Sydney Cove, was his own property ; that it had been his 

 father's, and that he fhould give it to By-gone, his particular friend 

 and companion. To this little fpot he appeared much attached. He 

 like wife fpoke of other perfons who pofTeffed this kind of hereditary- 

 property, which they retained undifturbed. 



Dispositions. 



They are revengeful, jealous, courageous, and cunning. Their 

 ftealing on each other in the night for the purpofe of murder rauft not 

 be imputed to them as a want of bravery ; but as the efFecl: of the dia- 

 bolical fpirit of revenge which is thus fought, to make furer of its ob- 

 ject than it could have done if only oppofed man to man in the 

 field. Their conduct when thus oppofed, the conflancy with which 

 they endured pain, and the alacrity with which they accepted a fum- 

 mons to the fight, are furely proofs of their not wanting courage. 

 They difclaim all idea of any fuperiority that is not perfonal ; for 

 when Ben-nil-long had a fhield, made of tin and covered with leather, 

 prefented to him by Governor Phillip, he took it down with him to 

 the harbour, whence he returned without it, faying that he had loft it; 

 but, in facT;, it had been taken from him and deftroyed by his coun- 

 trymen, it being deemed unfair to cover himfelf with fuch a guard. 



They might have been honeft before the white people came among 

 them, not having much to covet from one another ; but from their 



3 d new 



