ompanions or to gain shelter from
their spears, if hostilities commenced; and though these people
do not always keep their spears in their hands, they are seldom
without their throwing-sticks, and generally have a spear lying
near them in the grass, which they move with their feet as they
change their ground: however, it is not likely that this
disposition was made with any bad intention, but merely as a
security for Bannelong and Colebe; indeed, these men directed the
manoeuvre and waited till it was made, before they came near
enough to shake hands.

It may naturally be supposed that many would be desirous of
punishing what was generally deemed an act of treachery, but
Governor Phillip did not see the transaction in that light, and
as soon as he arrived at Sydney, he gave the necessary directions
to prevent any of the natives being fired on, unless they were
the aggressors, by throwing spears; and, in order to prevent the
party who were out on a shooting excursion from meeting with an
attack of a similar nature, an officer and some soldiers were
sent after them: they returned the next day, and coming by the
place where the accident happened, some of the natives appeared
on an eminence; on their being asked who had wounded the
governor, they named a man, or a tribe, who resided to the
northward: the boy, Nanbarre, was their interpreter, and he said
the man's name was _Caregal_, and that he lived at, or near
Broken-Bay. Nanbarre was also directed to enquire after Bannelong
and Colebe, and those to whom the question was put, pointed to
some people at a distance.

One of these natives threw a spear to an officer who asked for
it, and this he did in such a manner that very particularly
marked the care he took it should not fall near any person.

It may be thought remarkable that, after what had happened,
the natives should appear in the fight of seventeen armed men;
and what was more extraordinary, the cockswains of the two boats
which lay at anchor all night near the beach, with several
soldiers in them, said, that after the party they landed were
gone off, the natives returned, made up some fires, and slept
there all night; but, as the officer who went to bring home the
party that were out a shooting, found by the marks on the sand,
when he was returning the next morning, that he had been followed
by three men and a dog, it is probable that they had others
looking out likewise, and had the boats approached the beac