Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, Volume 1: With Descriptions of the Recently Explored Region of Australia Felix, and of the Present Colony of New South WalesMitchell, T. L. (Thomas Livingstone)
History
Three Expeditions into the Interior of Eastern Australia, Volume 1: With Descriptions of the Recently Explored Region of Australia Felix, and of the Present Colony of New South Wales
Mitchell, T. L. (Thomas Livingstone)
Australia -- Discovery and exploration; Mitchell, T. L. (Thomas Livingstone), 1792-1855
Again guided by Tackijally we travelled towards Darobal, the distance
being 7 1/4 miles. We several times crossed the bed of the Bogan, and in
this day's journey we were joined by Dalumbe Tuganda and others of the
Bungan tribe to whom the chief was anxious to introduce us.
SUPERIORITY OF THE KING HOW DISPLAYED.
We had this day an opportunity of witnessing his superiority in those
qualifications by which he was, no doubt, distinguished among the savage
tribes. We had overtaken a strong man with a bad countenance, prowling
along through the bush; and being, as it appeared, a friend of the
king's, he continued with us. An opossum in a tree had baffled all the
endeavours of himself and some young men to get at it, when they cooeyed
for the king. Our royal friend came, climbed the tree in an instant, and
after a cursory examination, dropped some small sticks down the hollow of
the trunk; then listening, he pointed, as by instinct, to a part of the
tree much lower down where, by making a small incision, the others
immediately got the animal out.
May 10.
We moved (on 345 degrees) for Nyngan, which we reached at half-past
twelve. We passed on our left Borribilu, and there I was introduced by
the king to a new tribe. On first espying these people seated under a
tree at a great distance near the river-bank, he directed my attention
that way by using the same gestures which he was accustomed to make in
giving me notice of a kangaroo or emu.
DANGEROUS MISTAKE.
I accordingly left my horse, going cautiously forward with my rifle. The
chief however kept by me, anxiously calling out with a pathetic voice
"Myen, myen," which words, as I afterwards learnt, meant Men! men! But it
was not until a thought had passed in my mind of firing among the group,
that I had the good fortune to discover my mistake. The figures seated
and covered with grey clay had very much the resemblance of a grey
species of kangaroo which we had often seen on the Bogan. I then went
forward with him, and was received with the most demure inattention; that
is to say, by the natives sitting cross-legged, with their eyes fixed on
the ground, which it appeared was their formal mode of expressing respect
or consideration for strangers when first received.
Nyngan was a long pond of water on which were many ducks, and those birds
called in the colony native companions.
A TRUE SAVAGE.
The blacks sat down at a fire nearer to us than usual, and the strong man
with a bad countenance particularly attracted my attention.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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