ny of them
guilty of theft; on the contrary, several times when we had left some
article behind, they called to us, and pointed it out. To them we were
indebted for the facilities we had enjoyed in obtaining water; for
without their guidance, we could never have removed from any encampment
without previously ascertaining where the next water could be procured;
and to have done this would have caused us great delay, and much
additional toil. By having them with us we were enabled to move with
confidence and celerity; and in following their guidance we knew that we
were taking that line of route which was the shortest, and the best
practicable under the circumstances. Upon arriving at any of the watering
places to which they had conducted us, they always pointed out the water,
and gave it up to us entirely, no longer looking upon it as their own,
and literally not taking a drink from it themselves when thirsty, without
first asking permission from us. Surely this true politeness--this
genuine hospitality of the untutored savage, may well put to the blush,
for their exclusiveness and illiberality, his more civilised brethren. In
how strong a light does such simple kindness of the inhabitant of the
wilds to Europeans travelling through his country (when his fears are not
excited or his prejudices violated,) stand contrasted with the treatment
he experiences from them when they occupy his country, and dispossess him
of his all.

There were now a considerable number of natives with us, all of whom had
been subjected to the singular ceremony before described. Those we had
recently met with, had, in addition, a curious brand, or mark on the
stomach, extending above and below the navel, and produced by the
application of fire. I had previously noticed a similar mark in use among
one or two tribes high up on the Murray River, (South Australia,) and
which is there called "Renditch." At the latter place, however, the brand
was on the breast, here it was on the stomach. I have never been able to
account in any way for the origin or meaning of this mark; but it is
doubtless used as a feature of distinction, or else why should it only be
found in one or two tribes and so far apart, had it been accidental or
arisen from lying near or upon the fires in cold weather, every
individual of certain tribes would not have been affected, and some
individuals of every tribe would: now, the first, as far as my experience
enabled me to judge, is t