Page:The aborigines of Australia.djvu/129

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THE ABORIGINES OF AUSTRALIA.

returning ship should bear him back to the scenes of his boyhood and the land of his birth.

At length the wished-for time did arrive, and he embarked with a light and joyous heart on his voyage towards his Australian home, where in due time he arrived, and was in some degree recompensed for his temporary exile by the warm greetings of his friends and countrymen. The brilliancy of Binnelong's career was, however, destined to be clouded at this period by a circumstance which is known to have embittered the life of many a greater hero, if the stories of some poets and historians are to be credited. His faithless "gin," either wearied of the loneliness which his absence imposed, or allured from her fidelity by seductive wiles, had, during his stay in England, transferred her fealty to another lord. This injury Binnelong did not allow to pass unresented, and a battle took place in which both the aggressor and the aggrieved suffered considerable personal injury; but, although our hero fought and bled in defence of his honour, he did not resume possession of his faithless wife, but sought and won another bride.

Collin's "Account of the Colony," from which these particulars are chiefly gleaned, contains a portrait of Binnelong, taken while he was in England, in which he is represented in a sort of military uniform. He is said to have accommodated himself wonderfully to civilized customs and habits, imitating with considerable success the manners and ceremonies of his