EFFECT OF FIRING A GUN. 
143 
The blanket being produced, I explained to the savage, 
with Mr. Hume’s assistance, that I was highly pleased 
with him, and forthwith presented him with a tomahawk 
and a clasp-knife. The tribe were perfectly aware of the 
reason of my conduct, and all of them seemed highly 
delighted. 
I was happy in having such an opportunity of shewing 
the natives of the interior that I came among them with a 
determination to maintain justice in my communication 
with them, and to impress them, at the same time, with a 
sense of our love of it in them. That they appreciated my 
apparent lenity in not calling for the defaulter, I am sure, 
and I feel perfectly conscious that I should have failed 
in my duty had I acted otherwise than I did. 
Although the natives had shewn so good a disposition, 
as they were numerous, I thought it as well, since I was 
about to leave the camp, to shew them that I had a power 
they little dreamt of about me. ' I therefore called for my 
gun and fired a ball into a tree. The effect of the report 
upon the natives, was truly ridiculous. Some stood and 
stared at me, others fell down, and others ran away ; and 
it was with some difficulty we collected them again. At 
last, however, we did so, and, leaving them to pick out 
the ball, mounted oui horses and struck away for the 
Darling. We crossed the river a little above where we 
struck it, and then proceeded N. W. into the interior. 
It is impossible for me to describe the nature of the 
country over which we passed, for the first eight miles. 
