ner, and have upon all occasions, when I have
been travelling in less known and more remote districts, willingly
accompanied me as guides and interpreters, introducing me from one tribe
to another, and explaining the amicable relations I wished to establish.
In one case, a native, whom I met by himself, accompanied me at once,
without even saying good-bye to his wife and family, who were a mile or
two away, and whom, as he was going to a distance of one hundred and
fifty miles and back, he was not likely to see for a great length of
time. He was quite content to send a message by the first native he met,
to say where he was going. In my intercourse with the Aborigines I have
always noticed that they would willingly do any thing for a person whom
they were attached to. I have found that an influence, amounting almost
to authority, is produced by a system of kindness; and that in cases
where their own feelings and wishes were in opposition to the particular
object for which this influence might be exercised, that the latter would
almost invariably prevail. Thus, upon one occasion in Adelaide, where a
very large body of the Murray natives were collected to fight those from
Encounter Bay, I was directed by the Government to use my influence to
prevent the affray. Upon going to their encampment late at night, I
explained the object of my visit to them, and requested them to leave
town in the morning, and return to their own district, (90 miles away.)
In the morning I again went to the native camp, and found them all ready,
and an hour afterwards there was not one in Adelaide. Another strong
instance of the power that may be acquired over the natives occurred at
Moorunde, in 1844:--Several tribes were assembled in the neighbourhood,
and were, as I was told, going to fight. I walked down towards their huts
to see if this was the case, but upon arriving at the native camps I
found them deserted, and all the natives about a quarter of a mile away,
on the opposite side of a broad deep sheet of water caused by the floods.
As I reached the edge of the water I saw the opposing parties closing,
and heard the cry of battle as the affray commenced; raising my voice to
the utmost, I called out to them, and was heard, even above the din of
combat. In a moment all was as still as the grave, a canoe was brought
for me to cross, and I found the assembled tribes fully painted and
armed, and anxiously waiting to know what I was going to do. It w