lace,
where he received his spears from little Purom his son, and quickly made
his appearance upon the scene of action.

The two parties were pretty equally matched--about fifteen men in each.
The noise now became deafening; shouts of defiance, insulting
expressions, and every kind of abusive epithet were bandied about, and
the women and children in the bush kept up a wailing cry all the while
rising and falling in cadence. The pantomimic movements were of various
descriptions; besides the singular quivering motion given to the thighs
placed wide apart (common to all the Australian dances) they frequently
invited each other to throw at them, turning the body half round and
exposing the breech, or dropping on one knee or hand as if to offer a
fair mark. At length a spear was thrown and returned, followed by many
others, and the fighting became general, with an occasional pause.

DEXTERITY IN THROWING THE SPEAR.

The precision with which the spears were thrown was not less remarkable
than the dexterity which with they were avoided. In nearly every case the
person thrown at would, apparently, have been struck had he stood still,
but, his keenness of sight enabled him to escape by springing aside as
required, variously inclining the body, or sometimes merely lifting up a
leg to allow the spear to pass by, and had two been thrown at one person
at the same moment he could scarcely have escaped, but this I observed
was never attempted, as it would have been in war, here each individual
appeared to have a particular opponent. I had a capital view of the whole
of the proceedings, being seated about fifty yards behind and slightly on
the flank of one of the two contending parties. One spear thrown higher
than usual passed within five yards of me, but this I was satisfied was
the result of accident, as I had seen it come from Paida's party. Soon
afterwards I observed a man at the right extreme of the line next me, who
had been dodging round a large scaevola bush for some time back, make a
sudden dart at one of the opposite party and chop him down the shoulder
with an iron tomahawk. The wounded man fell, and instantly a yell of
triumph denoted that the whole matter was at an end.

Paida rejoined me five minutes afterwards, apparently much refreshed by
this little excitement, and accompanied me on my walk, still he would not
explain the cause of the fight. The wounded man had his arm tied up by
one of our people who landed soon a