ould not but feel that they were not upon their own
ground, they used every endeavour to conciliate the opposing party. The
blacksmith belonging to the expedition was at work with his bellows and
anvil near the river bank, and his labours seemed to awaken very much
the curiosity of the natives, who, however, still refused to sit down,
and continued to wave their branches in the faces of the white people,
and to spit at them repeatedly, all which conduct was patiently endured
in the hope of establishing afterwards a more agreeable and friendly
intercourse. As a peace-offering, a tomahawk was presented to the
leader, who, guessing immediately its use, turned round to a log, and
chopped it. Two other stout fellows then rudely demanded the British
officer's pistols from his belt, whereupon he drew one, and, curious to
see the effect, fired it at a tree. Immediately, as though they had
previously suspected the intruders to be evil demons, and had at length
a clear proof of it, they repeated their actions of defiance with
tenfold fury, accompanying these with demoniac looks, hideous shouts,
and a war-song,--crouching, jumping, spitting, springing with the spear,
and throwing dust at them, as they slowly retired. In short, their
hideous crouching postures, measured gestures, and low jumps, to the
tune of a wild song, with the fiendish glare of their countenances, at
times all black, but now all eyes and teeth, seemed a fitter spectacle
for Pandemonium than for the light of the bounteous sun. Thus they
retired, dancing in a circle, and leaving the strangers in expectation
of their return, and perhaps an attack in the morning. Whatever was the
cause of their hostility, any further attempt to quiet them appeared out
of the question, and it was too likely that ere long the English party
would be forced to prove their superiority by arms.[78]

[77] The custom of holding out green boughs, which is usually a sign of
friendship among the Australians and other savage tribes, formed part of
the ceremony of suppliants among the ancient Greeks. See Potter's
Antiquities of Greece, b. ii. c. 5.

[78] The difference in disposition between tribes not very remote from
each other was often striking. Only three days' journey behind, the
travellers had left natives as kind and civil as any whom they had seen,
and hitherto all the people on the Darling had met them with the branch
of peace.

These troublesome visitors did not,