第43章

At a very short distance from Rose Hill,we found that they were in a country unknown to them,so that the farther they went the more dependent on us they became,being absolute strangers inland.To convey to their understandings the intention of our journey was impossible.For,perhaps,no words could unfold to an Indian the motives of curiosity which induce men to encounter labour,fatigue and pain,when they might remain in repose at home,with a sufficiency of food.We asked Colbee the name of the people who live inland,and he called them Boorooberongal;and said they were bad,whence we conjectured that they sometimes war with those on the sea coast,by whom they were undoubtedly driven up the country from the fishing ground,that it might not be overstocked;the weaker here,as in every other country,giving way to the stronger.

We asked how they lived.He said,on birds and animals,having no fish.

Their laziness appeared strongly when we halted,for they refused to draw water or to cleave wood to make a fire;but as soon as it was kindled (having first well stuffed themselves),they lay down before it and fell asleep.About an hour after sunset,as we were chatting by the fire side and preparing to go to rest,we heard voices at a little distance in the wood.

Our natives caught the sound instantaneously and,bidding us be silent,listened attentively to the quarter whence it had proceeded.In a few minutes we heard the voices plainly;and,wishing exceedingly to open a communication with this tribe,we begged our natives to call to them,and bid them to come to us,to assure them of good treatment,and that they should have something given them to eat.Colbee no longer hesitated,but gave them the signal of invitation,in a loud hollow cry.After some whooping and shouting on both sides,a man with a lighted stick in his hand advanced near enough to converse with us.The first words which we could distinctly understand were,'I am Colbee,of the tribe of Cadigal.'The stranger replied,'I am Bereewan,of the tribe of Boorooberongal.'Boladeree informed him also of his name and that we were white men and friends,who would give him something to eat.Still he seemed irresolute.Colbee therefore advanced to him,took him by the hand and led him to us.By the light of the moon,we were introduced to this gentleman,all our names being repeated in form by our two masters of the ceremonies,who said that we were Englishmen and 'budyeeree'(good),that we came from the sea coast,and that we were travelling inland.

Bereewan seemed to be a man about thirty years old,differing in no respect from his countrymen with whom we were acquainted.He came to us unarmed,having left his spears at a little distance.After a long conversation with his countrymen,and having received some provisions,he departed highly satisfied.

Tuesday,April 12th,1791.Started this morning at half past six o'clock,and in two hours reached the river.The whole of the country we passed was poor,and the soil within a mile of the river changed to a coarse deep sand,which I have invariably found to compose its banks in every part without exception that I ever saw.The stream at this place is about 350feet wide;the water pure and excellent to the taste.The banks are about twenty feet high and covered with trees,many of which had been evidently bent by the force of the current in the direction which it runs,and some of them contained rubbish and drift wood in their branches at least forty-five feet above the level of the stream.We saw many ducks,and killed one,which Colbee swam for.No new production among the shrubs growing here was found.we were acquainted with them all.Our natives had evidently never seen this river before.They stared at it with surprise,and talked to each other.Their total ignorance of the country,and of the direction in which they had walked,appeared when they were asked which way Rose Hill lay;for they pointed almost oppositely to it.

Of our compass they had taken early notice,and had talked much to each other about it.They comprehended its use,and called it 'naamoro,'literally,"to see the way";a more significant or expressive term cannot be found.

Supposing ourselves to be higher on the stream than Richmond Hill,we agreed to trace downward,or to the right hand.In tracing,we kept as close to the bank of the river as the innumerable impediments to walking which grow upon it would allow.We found the country low and swampy;came to a native fireplace,at which were some small fish-bones;soon after we saw a native,but he ran away immediately.Having walked nearly three miles we were stopped by a creek which we could neither ford,or fall a tree across.We were therefore obliged to coast it,in hope to find a passing place or to reach its head.At four o'clock we halted for the night on the bank of the creek.

Our natives continued to hold out stoutly.The hindrances to walking by the river side which plagued and entangled us so much,seemed not to be heeded by them,and they wound through them with case;but to us they were intolerably tiresome.Our perplexities afforded them an inexhaustible fund of merriment and derision:Did the sufferer,stung at once with nettles and ridicule,and shaken nigh to death by his fall,use any angry expression to them,they retorted in a moment,by calling him by every opprobrious name which their language affords.

Boladeree destroyed a native hut today very wantonly before we could prevent him.On being asked why he did so,he answered that the inhabitants inland were bad;though no longer since than last night,when Bereewan had departed,they were loud in their praise.But now they had reverted to their first opinion;so fickle and transient are their motives of love and hatred.