Australian Search PartyEden, Charles H. (Charles Henry)
History
Australian Search Party
Eden, Charles H. (Charles Henry)
Australia -- Discovery and exploration
Certainly the blacks are a curious race, the like of which was never
before seen under the sun. For two days after Lizzie's arrival in
camp, she refused to speak or eat; for the next two days she ate
everything she could lay her hands on, but still kept an unbroken
silence; and for another two days, whenever she was not eating, she
"yabbered" so much and so fast that the other gins looked on aghast,
unable to get a word in edgewise, so continuous was the flow of
Hinchinbrook vituperation. On the seventh day, as if by magic, she
brought her tirade to a close, went down to the creek with the other
gins to fetch water, cooked her husband's supper, appeared perfectly
reconciled to her change of life, and henceforth, from her sharpness,
the aptitude with which she picked up the broken English in which the
officers communicate with the troopers, and her great knowledge of the
surrounding country, she became a most useful acquisition to the camp,
and Dunmore used frequently to say that Lizzie was worth three extra
troopers. One of the most extraordinary things about her--and she was
not unique, for all the Australian blacks are alike constituted in this
respect--was the facility with which she seemed to rupture all the
natural ties of kinship and affection. Her own tribe--her father,
mother, sisters, all were apparently wiped from her mind as completely
as writing is removed from a slate by a sponge; or, if ever remembered,
it was never with any mark of regret.
AN AUSTRALIAN SEARCH PARTY--II.
BY CHARLES H. EDEN.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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