oking women composing themselves to sleep in the same
_natural_ state as their lords and masters.[18] They suffer much,
occasionally, from hunger, and may then be induced to do a day's work
about the farm, for which they will consider themselves well paid by a
pound of flour and an ounce of tobacco each. This reward must not be
given them, however, till their work is done: give it beforehand, and
not a hand's turn will they do, but decamp at once to enjoy their
dinner. As soon as they have eaten their bread, they light the pipes,
and never cease smoking till their tobacco is finished. Some of the men
are remarkably well made, and strong, able-bodied fellows. One who spent
a week now and then in my kitchen, doing any thing the cook told him,
for the promise of a supper, was a tall, good-looking fellow, named
Jamie. They are one and all christened in the bush by any European they
may ask for a name. A father applied to me one day for a name for his
little boy, and I forthwith called him "Donald;" at which the old man
and the rest of the tribe laughed heartily, saying, "All same your
horse." I had then a pony called Donald. To resume: Jamie was frequently
clothed by me, and was asked to sleep in the kitchen, or in one of the
out-offices, but all to no purpose: his clothes, he never kept a week,
and he invariably took his departure at sun-set to sleep in the open
air. In our district, I believe, the blacks were harmless people; but,
on the Upper Hunter, on Liverpool Plains, they have been not only very
troublesome, but even dangerous neighbours. Many settlers have suffered
severely from their depredations; and several shepherds and
stock-keepers have been murdered by them. Would they content themselves
with killing a single bullock or two or three sheep, when suffering from
hunger, one might excuse them; but I have known twenty-five cows killed
by a single tribe in one night, the fat and kidneys taken away, and the
carcases left on the ground. This, to say the least of it, was a
mischievous waste of property; and such proceedings naturally led the
settlers to retaliate. The consequences were serious, and led to extreme
measures, ending, in more than one instance, in bloodshed. There seems
to be no room for doubt, that many of these poor creatures have been
murdered by stock-keepers on the mere suspicion of being concerned in
such crimes. This fact, however, does not justify the Government in
offering a hundred pounds reward f