Of the natives in our party it was arranged among themselves that Tommy Came-first and The Widow, who most required a rest, having sore feet, should remain with Mr. Stapylton and that Piper and Tommy Came-last should accompany me. CHAPTER 3.12. Parting of The Widow and her child. We at length emerge on much firmer ground. River Hopkins. Mount Nicholson. Cockajemmy salt lakes. Natives ill disposed. Singular weapon. Treacherous concealment of a native. Contents of a native's basket and store. A tribe comes forward. Fine country for colonisation. Hollows in the downs. Snakes numerous. Native females. Cattle tracks. Ascend Mount Cole. Enter on a granite country. Many rivulets. Mammeloid hills. Lava, the surface rock. Snakes eaten by the natives. Ascend Mount Byng. Rich grass. Expedition pass. Excursion towards Port Phillip. Discover and cross the river Barnard. Emus numerous and tame. The river Campaspe. Effects of a storm in the woods. Ascend Mount Macedon. Port Phillip dimly seen from it. Return to the camp. Continue our homeward journey. Waterfall of Cobaw. Singular country on the Barnard. Cross the Campaspe. An English razor found. Ascend Mount Campbell. Native beverage. Valley of the Deegay. Natives exchange baskets for axes. They linger about our camp. Effect of fireworks, etc. Arrival at, and passage of, the Goulburn. Fish caught. PARTING OF THE WIDOW AND HER CHILD. September 19. When about to set out I observed that The Widow Turandurey, who was to remain with Mr. Stapylton's party and the carts, was marked with white round the eyes (the natives' fashion of mourning) and that the face of her child Ballandella was whitened also. This poor woman who had cheerfully carried the child on her back when we offered to carry both on the carts, and who was as careful and affectionate as any mother could be, had at length determined to entrust to me the care of this infant. I was gratified with such a proof of the mother's confidence in us, but I should have been less willing to take charge of her child had I not been aware of the wretched state of slavery to which the natives females are doomed. I felt additional interest in this poor child from the circumstance of her having suffered so much by the accident that befel her while with our party, and which had not prevented her from now preferring our mode of living so much that I believe the mother at length despaired of being ever able to initiate her thoroughly in the mysteries of killing and eating snakes, lizards, rats, and similar food. The widow had been long enough with us to be sensible how much more her sex was respected by civilised men than savages, and, as I conceived, it was with such sentiments that she committed her child to my charge, under the immediate care however of Piper's gin. WE AT LENGTH EMERGE ON MUCH FIRMER GROUND.