114 SLAUGHTER OF TWO IRISH RUNAWAYS. 
was induced to feed such of them as visited the camp, not- 
withstanding their late misconduct ; being likewise anxious 
to bring about a good understanding, as the best means of 
ensuring the safety of the smaller party when we should 
separate, of which I had reason to be doubtful. These 
people had killed two white men not long before my arrival 
among them, and as the circumstances attending the 
slaughter are singular, I shall relate them. 
The parties were two Irish runaways, who thought they 
could make their way to Timor. They escaped from Wel- 
lington Valley with a fortnight’s provision each, and a couple 
of dogs, and proceeded down the Macquarie. About the 
cataract, they fell in with the Mount Harris tribe, and re- 
mained with them for some days, when they determined on 
pursuing their journey. The blacks, however, wanted to 
get possession of their dogs, and a resistance on the part of 
the Europeans brought on a quarrel, it appeals, that before 
the blacks proceeded to extremities, they furnished the Irisli- 
men, who were unarmed, with weapons, and then told them to 
defend themselves, but whether against equal or inferior 
numbers, I am uninformed. One of them soon fell, which 
the other observing, he took his knife out, and cut the 
throats of both the dogs before the blacks had time to put 
him to death. He was, however, sacrificed ; and both 
the men were eaten by the tribe generally, I questioned se- 
veral on the subject, but they preserved the most sullen si- 
lence, neither acknowledging nor denying the fact. 
Mr. Hume had been one day on Mount Harris, and while 
