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angry, and he would only spear her a little on the lower part of the leg. I have heard their voices very loud ever since. They will have troubled rest. All parties seemed to look upon me as a friend—though I confess I felt a little afraid at one time when they began to pronounce my name with great vehemence; it was in asserting that I had seen the dog die of snake bite. I held Mauli for a while, when he first snatched his spear, till another came to the rescue. One part of the scene was singular—the mother of the child that had died clung to the knees of one old man and uttered a long weeping recitative, while he stood apparently unmoved; at other times she threw herself on the bosom of another and wept out the same sort of droning song, which, from some detached words I caught, reminds me of the Irish keen, as a sort of address to the departed. It is ringing in my ears even now, while I write, at the distance of half a mile from them.
7th.—A very warm day. Some natives have been here before sunrise begging some grease to smear themselves for a battle. One of them was afterwards slightly wounded in the side by a spear. One young woman was speared through the arm and in the leg, and that was the extent of all the mighty business. I shot some birds for them and killed two at one shot, which raised a shout from both armies—about 40 men.
9th.—Again troubled with natives all day. Mr. Whitfield came here to breakfast. A Mr. Smith and his son called afterwards for information about the land up the river. There is a singular belief supposed to be general now among the natives that we are the spirits of their deceased friends, and they call many by the names of men long dead. Of one old man who is fast declining, they say that he will soon become a white man, and then he will have plenty of bread. They hold opinion with Pythagoras as Gratiano says, of the transmigration.
Fifty head of cattle have been seen at the Murray river, I
