INTERCOURSE WITH NATIVES. 
103 
and a fire lit. Whilst we were sitting patiently for the 
boiling of the tins, Mr. Hume observed at a considerable 
distance above us, a large body of natives under some 
gum trees. They were not near enough for us to observe 
them distinctly, but it was evident that they were watching 
our motions. We did not take any notice of them for 
some time, but at last I thought it better to call out to 
them, and accordingly requested Mr. Hume to do so. In a 
moment the whole of them ran forward and dashed into the 
river, having been on the opposite side, with an uproar I 
had never witnessed on any former occasion. 
Mr. Hume thought they intended an attack, and the 
horses had taken fright and galloped away. I determined, 
therefore, to fire at once upon them if they pressed up the 
bank on which we were posted. Mr. Hume went with me 
to the crest of it, and we rather angrily beckoned to the 
foremost of the natives to stop. They mistook our mean- 
ing, but laid all their spears in a heap as they came up. 
We then sat down on the bank and they immediately did 
the same; nor did they stir until we beckoned to them 
after the horses had been secured. 
As they conducted themselves so inoffensively, we gave 
them everything we had to spare. My gun seemed to 
excite their curiosity, as they had seen Mr. Hume shoot a 
cockatoo with it ; they must consequently have been close 
to us for the greater part of the day, as the bird was killed 
in the morning. It was of a species new to me, being 
smaller than the common white cockatoo, and having a 
