of ill omen would start up, and rouse them. They would seize their
spears and attempt to flee; and the whites, now disappointed of a
bloodless capture, would commence the slaughter.

In 1828, a tribe of natives threw stones at the constables, from a hill.
They returned a volley of shot; then charged with the bayonet: the whole
were slain. The excuse for the massacre was, that having no more
ammunition, the constables had no other means of defence, and that to
retreat was dangerous. An exploit, claimed by a corporal and party of
the 40th regiment, is disputed. They professed to have discovered a
tribe lodged on the shelf of a rock, inclosed by wall-like heights. They
poured in their fire, and dragged the women and children from their
shelter: all perished. This was stated to be a mere tale of pretended
success, and devised to satisfy the neighbourhood, that the men had done
their duty. It proves, at least, that such achievements were in request.
How fearful a condition for the government to tolerate, or for a colony
to approve.

In these expeditions, natives were often the guides, and were enabled to
follow up the track of their countrymen, when the English were
confounded. In those troublesome times, individuals of the tribes were
often left behind. It was the custom to fix small pieces of stick at
short distances, to assist the stragglers in rejoining their main body.
For a time, these signals being understood by the black guides, brought
them quickly on the route of the fugitives; but the guides soon betrayed
or exhausted this device, and though they continued to leave direction
sticks, they reversed their meaning, and distracted their pursuers.

The Tasmanian allies themselves, were exceedingly uncertain, and prone
to escape. They disclosed to their countrymen the plans adopted for
their capture, related the expeditions they had witnessed, and added new
excitements to rage. Sydney natives were obtained, to assist in the
capture: Pigeon and John Crook, under the care of Mr. Batman, promoted
the success of the undertaking. Pigeon narrowly escaped being shot: he
wandered from his party, and was seen by a stockman in a tree, who
fired, in spite of his endeavours to explain. Pigeon then slipped down,
and reached his friends, only in time to avoid the second charge of his
pertinacious antagonist. The story is worth relating, not on account of
the actors, but because it displays how cheap, at that hour, was the
life of a