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THE ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA. 19 a police station, giving the alarm. The police immediately mounted horse, galloped furiously to the station, took a circuit round the house, and then followed on the trail of the blacks, whom they overtook encamped; they fired into them, and killed and wounded several. The sergeant, a white, however remained at the station, leaving these desperadoes to do their bloody deeds of carnage; probably he felt he could not restrain them. The fidelity of the black, however, saved the lives of the station-holders. A black in Port Macquarie stole on Mr. , while lying on the grass. He had pipeclayed him self, and then stealing along, made a noise like the burring of a quail. Mr. , in fright, leaped on his horse and fled ; this amused the black very much. Mr. James R had a lad as coachman, who drove well, was a perfect dandy, kept his horses in fine order, used much oil for his hair, and prided himself on his coach and appearance, but withal went back to the bush. A gentleman at Molesmane had a lad for several years. He could read and write, cast up accounts, and do anything on a farm. At the age for the ceremony of knocking out teeth he went back to the wild state. An aboriginal and woman had a dairy station at Monaro, were married at church, and conducted their station like any Europeans. Their power of ridicule is very great. Sir George Grey’s party having reached a friendly tribe, who supplied them with frogs and turtles, one of them, named Imbat, enjoyed himself at the expense of Sir George Grey. “ What for do you, who have plenty to eat and much money, walk so far away in the bush ? You are thin, your shanks are long, your belly small, you had plenty to eat at home, why did you not stop there ?” Sir G. Grey replied, being somewhat mortified, “You comprehend nothing ; you know nothing.” “ I know nothing ? I know how to keep myself fat. The young women look at me and say, * Imbat is very handsome, he is fat.’ They look at you, and say, ‘ He is not good, long legs:’ What do you know, where is your fat, what for do you know so much, if you can’t keep fat ? I know how to keep at home, and not walk too far in the bush; where is your fat ?” “ You know how to talk ;—long tongue,” was my reply, upon which, forgetting his anger, he burst into a roar of laughter, and saying, “ I know how to make you fat,” began stuffing me with frogs and by-yu nuts. There was something more practical here than irony. The value of religion under the trying cir cumstances of a forlorn hope in this expedition is acknowledged by Sir G. Grey:—“ I feel assured that but for the support I derived from prayer and frequent perusals and meditation of the Scriptures, I should never have been able to have borne myself in such a manner as to have maintained discipline and confi dence among the rest of the party, nor in my sufferings did I ever lose the consolation derived from the firm reliance upon the goodness of Providence. It is only those who go forth into perils and dangers, where human foresight and strength can little avail, find themselves day after day protected by an unseen influence, and ever and anon snatched from the jaws of destruction by a power which is not of this world, who can at all estimate the knowledge of one’s weakness and littleness, and the firm reliance and trust upon the goodness of the Creator which the human heart is capable of feeling.” When seeking to determine what they were to do to extricate themselves from their difficulties, he says, “ Ho then strengthened his mind by reading a few chapters in the Bible, .and walked on.” Those who have read of Sir J. Eranklin’s early explorations down the Copper-mine River, and his return with his party, will see how this party, in the midst of ice and snow and starvation, were supported by religion, the Bible being the staff of their strength, and that they were the objects of God’s care, buoyed them up under unheard-of difficulties appalling to human nature. “ What is man alone in creation without God ?” They are very expert in throwing the spear, at which they constantly practise. They have a game at ball, which gives occasion for much wrestling and activity ; besides this, they have wrestling matches for bunches of feathers. There are many kinds of corroborees. All have the song and the dance; both are at times very libidinous, especially the dance of the women. The war dances are conducted by some hundreds of men in a measured tramp, and in a very excited state of mind. They make up their song out of some incident or circumstance they may have seen. The effect is very imposing: the men in a state of nudity; their bodies striped in white, and their heads fancifully adorned ; the fires lighting up the night and casting their glare around the forest; the stately trees spreading their shadows ; the women seated and drumming rude music from tight-rolled skins. The activity of the dancers and the strange noises, sounds, and imitating calls altogether present a wild, unearthly, and apparently demoniacal scene. A resident on
