ether it was that his firmness produced any effect
I cannot say, but after one of the natives had whispered to another, he
walked up to Toonda and saluted him, by putting his hands on his
shoulders and bending his head until it touched his breast. This Toonda
coldly returned, and then stood as frigid as before, until the drays
moved on, when he again resumed his seat and left them without uttering a
word. Nadbuck had separated from his friends, after having as it seemed
imparted to them some important information, and coming up to myself and
Mr. Browne, whispered to us, "Bloody rogue that fellow, you look after
jimbuck." The contrast between these two men was remarkable: the crafty
duplicity of the one, and the haughty bearing of the other. But I am led
to believe that there was some latent cause for Toonda's conduct, since
he asked me to shoot the natives, and was so excited that he pushed his
blanket into his mouth, and bit it violently in his anger. On this I
offered him a pistol to shoot them himself, but he returned it to me with
a smile. Of course it will be understood that I should not have allowed
him to fire it.

Two of the old men followed when we left the other natives, to whom I
made presents in the afternoon; but it is remarkable that many of them
trembled whilst we staid with them, and although their women were not
present, they hovered on the opposite bank of the Darling all the time.
We kept wide of the river almost all day, travelling between the scrub
and lagoons, but we had occasionally to ascend and cross ridges of loose
sand, over which the bullock-drivers were obliged to help each other with
their teams. There was not the slightest change in the character of the
distant interior, but the vicinity of the Darling was thickly timbered
for more than three-quarters of a mile from its banks, but the wood was
valueless for building purposes.

I was exceedingly surprised at the course of the river at this point. We
had gone a good deal to the eastward the day before, but on this day we
sometimes travelled on a course to the southward of east, and never for
the whole day came higher up than east by north. The consequence was,
that we proceeded into a deep bight, and made no progress northwards up
the river. At our camp it had dwindled to a mere thread, so narrow was
the line of water in its bed. Its banks were as even and as smooth as
those of a fortification, and covered with a thick, even sward. There was