JUNCTION OF THE RUFUS. 
127 
Although I desired to avoid exciting their alarm, I still 
made a point of shewing them the effects of a gunshot, by 
firing at a kite, or any other bird that happened to be near. 
My dexterity — for I did not trust Fraser, who would, ten to 
one, have missed his mark— was generally exerted, as I 
have said, against a kite or a crow ; both of which birds 
generally accompanied the blacks from place to place to 
pick up the remnants of their meals. Yet, I was often 
surprised at the apparent indifference with which the 
natives not only saw the effect of the shot, but heard the 
report. I have purposely gone into the centre of a large 
assemblage and fired at a bird that has fallen upon their 
very heads, without causing a start or an exclamation, 
without exciting either their alarm or their curiosity. 
Whence this callous feeling proceeded, whether from 
strength of nerve, or because they had been informed 
by our forerunners that we should shew off before them, 
I know not, but I certainly expected a very different 
effect from that which my firing generally produced, 
although I occasionally succeeded in scattering them pretty 
well. 
About 1 1 a. m., we arrived at the junction of a small river 
vvith the Murray, at which a tribe, about 250 in number, 
had assembled to greet us. We landed, therefore, for the 
double purpose of distributing presents, and of examining 
the junction, which, coming from the north, of course, fell 
into the Murray upon its right bank. Its waters were so 
extremely muddy, and its current so rapid, that it must 
