hey were always afraid to leave what was now their home to go forth
unprovided into the unknown. Sometimes a fit of depression so acute
would come over them, that they would shut themselves up in their room
and not show themselves for a whole day.

We had a very plentiful supply of food, but one thing the girls missed
very much was milk,--which of course, was an unheard-of luxury in these
regions. We had a fairly good substitute, however, in a certain creamy
and bitter-tasting juice which we obtained from a palm-tree. This
"milk," when we got used to it, we found excellent when used with the
green corn. The corn-patch was carefully fenced in from kangaroos, and
otherwise taken care of; and I may here remark that I made forks and
plates of wood for my fair companions, and also built them a proper
elevated bed, with fragrant eucalyptus leaves and grass for bedding. For
the cold nights there was a covering of skin rugs, with an overall quilt
made from the wild flax.

The girls made themselves sun-bonnets out of palm-leaves; while their
most fashionable costume was composed of the skins of birds and
marsupials, cunningly stitched together by Yamba. During the cold winter
months of July and August we camped at a more sheltered spot, a little to
the north, where there was a range of mountains, whose principal peak was
shaped like a sugar-loaf.

I frequently accompanied the warriors on their fighting expeditions, but
did not use my stilts, mainly because we never again met so powerful an
enemy as we had battled with on that memorable occasion. My people were
often victorious, but once or twice we got beaten by reason of the other
side having drawn first blood. My natives took their reverses with a
very good grace, and were never very depressed or inclined to view me
with less favour because of their want of success. We were always the
best of friends, and I even ventured gradually to wean them from
cannibalism.

I knew they ate human flesh, not because they felt hungry, but because
they hoped to acquire the additional valour of the warrior they were
eating. I therefore diplomatically pointed out to them that, in the
first place, all kinds of dreadful diseases which the dead man might have
had would certainly be communicated to them, and in this I was
providentially borne out by a strange epidemic. The second consideration
I mentioned was that by making anklets, bracelets, and other ornaments
out of the dead brav