presented the chief with an old hat, and gave to each a piece of bread.
After they had eaten it, I raised the old man with my right hand, and
taking another in my left, I led them away in the direction whence they
had come, broke off a green branch, gave a portion to each, and bid them
farewell. As the others still remained in STATU QUO, I went through the
same ceremony with them until they were all on their path homewards.
Having heard nothing more of them for some time, I flattered myself that
I had succeeded in giving them a friendly hint that we did not wish them
beside us; but I soon discovered my mistake, for at 4 P.M. a large number
of natives, accompanied by two or three gins and children, came boldly up
and encamped within a few yards of the tents, and two hundred more were
reported to me by Mortimer as being at a short distance in their rear. I
gave strict orders that no man should go near them, and I mustered the
party myself at 8 P.M. Shortly afterwards, three or four natives came
down to our fires, and on the men saying that they would not be made to
leave, I put my hand upon their shoulders, and shewed them their own
camp. One tall young native in particular, wearing an opossum cloak,
exhibited a strong inclination to resist. I continued to watch their
movements until half-past eleven, P.M. up to which time they were talking
very earnestly, continually repeating the words "white fellow." I had not
retired to my tent five minutes when I heard Baldock (one of the two men
on watch) several times desire the natives to go back, who, as it
appeared, would insist on coming forward to our fires. Serjeant Niblet
then called me, saying he thought "all was not right," that the natives
refused to keep away, and that he had seen the fire sticks of others
approaching from several directions. On turning out, I found them making
a line of fires within twenty-five yards or less of our tents, and the
grass on fire, the old man urging them on in their mischievous work. I
called to them in the language of some of the aborigines, to go away
quickly, using the words "Yau-a-ca-burri!" but seeing that they still