THEIR INDIFFERENCE TO FIRE-ARMS. 
135 
many presents among them. This tribe was almost the 
only one that evinced any eagerness to see us. The lame 
had managed to hobble along, and the blind were equally 
anxious to touch us. There were two or three old men 
stretched upon the bank, from whom the last sigh seemed 
about to depart ; yet these poor creatures evinced an anxiety 
to see us, and to listen to a description of our appearance, 
although it seemed doubtful whether they would be alive 
twenty-four hours after we left them. An old woman, 
a picture of whom would disgust my readers, made several 
attempts to embrace me. I managed, however, to avoid 
her, and at length got rid of her by handing her over to 
Fraser, who was no wise particular as to the object of his 
attention. This tribe must have been one of the most 
numerous on the banks of the Murray, since we fell in 
with detached families for many miles below the place 
where we had parted from the main body. 
I have omitted to mention that, while among them, I 
fired at a kite and killed it ; yet, though close to me, the 
blacks did not start or evince the least surprise. It really 
is difficult to account for such firmness of nerve or self- 
command. It is not so much a matter of surprise that they 
were indifferent to its effects, for probably they knew them 
not, but it is certainly odd that they should not have been 
startled by the report. 
The river inclined very much to the southward for some 
miles below our last camp ; at length it struck against some 
elevations that turned it more to the westward. Before we 
