318 
NATIVE CUSTOMS, 
seen about the camp, on our approach, yesterday, 
had returned, and slept near us at night ; but upon 
inquiring from him this morning, where our two- 
gallon keg was, he took the very earliest opportunity 
of decamping, being probably afraid that we should 
charge him with the robbery, or punish him for it. 
The natives, generally, are a strange and singular 
race of people, and their customs and habits are often 
quite inexplicable to us. Sometimes, in barely 
passing through a country, we have them gathering 
from all quarters, and surrounding us, anxious and 
curious to observe our persons, or actions ; at other 
times, we may remain in camp for weeks together 
without seeing a single native, though many may 
be in the neighbourhood ; when they do come, too, 
they usually depart as suddenly as their visit had 
been unexpected. Among all who had come under 
my observation, hitherto, along this coast, I found 
that every male had undergone the singular cere- 
mony I have described as prevailing in the Port 
Lincoln peninsula ; each, too, had the cartilage of 
the nose perforated, but none had lost the front 
teeth, nor did I see any (with one exception) having 
scars raised on the back, breast, or arms, as is fre- 
quently the case with many tribes in Australia. 
For the last few days, the weather had been 
tolerably cool, and we had not been much troubled 
with musquitoes ; instead, however, we were perse- 
cuted severely by a very large greyish kind of horse- 
fly, with a huge proboscis for sucking up the blood. 
