AND EXPLORATION. 161 Here the two natives, who had been grumbling a good 1791 deal during the last day or two, began to grumble in a still April, louder key. One of them talked pathetically about his absent wife and child ; while the other, when he saw the rain coming, reminded Phillip that there were good houses at Sydney and Rose Hill, but none there ; no fish and no melon. They would not have felt any remorse in leaving the party had they not been afraid to return by themselves, The natives knowing the danger of hostile spears. They had joined the expedition in the belief that it was a hunting excur- sion, got up for the purpose of shooting ducks and pata- ^orangs; but when they saw that Phillip did not stop at the places where good sport might have been had, they began to wonder why he had left Rose Hill, and pressed No sport him to return. The two natives were not the only members of the party who were dissatisfied with the results of- the expedition. It was clear to all of them that their chance of exploring the Blue Mountains was a very poor one, seeing- that they could not do a day^s journey without being stopped, by a creek or a gully, compelling them to go round it, and thus bringing them back to the place from which they started. Finding that the next two days would be taken up in getting to the opposite side of a creek not one hundred feet wide, Phillip determined to return at once to Rose Hill, J^hj^^ sixteen miles from their camp. The next morning they started on their homeward journey and reached the settle- ment in the afternoon. During this excursion they had a good opportunity for observing the singular precautions adopted by the natives when meeting each other unexpectedly in the bush ; and as it was probably owing to neglect of similar precautions on Native pre. the part of Europeans that many of the unfortunate col- meeUng. ^'^ Jisions took place with the natives, it is worth while to give Phillip's account of them. Soon after their camp- fires were lighted on the first evening they were out, the voice of a native calling his dog was heard in the bush ; and as their natives wished to interview him, they coo-eed, L Digitized by Google
