ON THE NATIVE TRIBES. 467 
and considerate manner, and have upon all occa- 
sions, when I have been travelling in less known 
and more remote districts, willingly accompanied 
me as guides and interpreters, introducing me from 
one tribe to another, and explaining the amicable 
relations I wished to establish. In one case, a 
native, whom I met by himself, accompanied me at 
once, without even saying good-bye to his wife and 
family, who were a mile or two away, and whom, 
as he was going to a distance of one hundred and 
fifty miles and back, he was not likely to see for a 
great length of time. He was quite content to 
send a message by the first native he met, to say 
where he was going. In my intercourse with the 
Aborigines I have always noticed that they would 
willingly do any thing for a person whom they were 
attached to. I have found that an influence, 
amounting almost to authority, is produced by a 
system of kindness ; and that in cases where their 
own feelings and wishes were in opposition to the 
particular object for which this influence might be 
exercised, that the latter would almost invariably 
prevail. Thus, upon one occasion in Adelaide, 
where a very large body of the Murray natives 
were collected to fight those from Encounter Bay, I 
was directed by the Government to use my influ- 
ence to prevent the affray. Upon going to their 
encampment late at night, I explained the object of 
my visit to them, and requested them to leave town 
in the morning, and return to their own district, 
2 h 2 
