their fate, whatever it might have been. As soon as they landed,
M'Leay and I retired to a little distance from the bank, and sat down;
that being the usual way among the natives of the interior, to invite to
an interview. When they saw us act thus, they approached, and sat down by
us, but without looking up, from a kind of diffidence peculiar to them,
and which exists even among the nearest relatives, as I have already had
occasion to observe. As they gained confidence, however, they showed an
excessive curiosity, and stared at us in the most earnest manner. We now
led them to the camp, and I gave, as was my custom, the first who had
approached, a tomahawk; and to the others, some pieces of iron hoop. Those
who had crossed the river amounted to about thirty-five in number.
At sunset, the majority of them left us; but three old men remained at
the fire-side all night. I observed that few of them had either lost their
front teeth or lacerated their bodies, as the more westerly tribes do. The
most loathsome diseases prevailed among them. Several were disabled by
leprosy, or some similar disorder, and two or three had entirely lost
their sight. They are, undoubtedly, a brave and a confiding people, and
are by no means wanting in natural affection. In person, they resemble the
mountain tribes. They had the thick lip, the sunken eye, the extended
nostril, and long beards, and both smooth and curly hair are common among
them. Their lower extremities appear to bear no proportion to their bust
in point of muscular strength; but the facility with which they ascend
trees of the largest growth, and the activity with which they move upon
all occasions, together with their singularly erect stature, argue that
such appearance is entirely deceptive.

INTERCOURSE WITH NATIVES.

The old men slept very soundly by the fire, and were the last to get up in
the morning. M'Leay's extreme good humour had made a most favourable
impression upon them, and I can picture him, even now, joining in their
wild song. Whether it was from his entering so readily into their mirth,
or from anything peculiar that struck them, the impression upon the whole
of us was, that they took him to have been originally a black, in
consequence of which they gave him the name of Rundi. Certain it is, they
pressed him to show his side, and asked if he had not received a wound
there--evidently as if the original Rundi had met with a violent death
from a spear-wound in th