those which came out, shivering, the weather being very cold, warmed themselves in the centre of a circular fire, kept up by the gins on the bank.  The death of the fish in their practised hands was almost instantaneous, and seemed caused by merely holding them by the tail with the gills immersed.  The old men at our camp sat watching us until sunset, when they went off quietly towards the river; the afternoon also passed without a second visit from the fishing tribe.

THE BURNING BRAND.

July 11.

Soon after sunrise this morning some natives, I think twelve or thirteen in number, were seen approaching our tents at a kind of run, carrying spears and green boughs.  As soon as they arrived within a short distance three came forward, stuck their spears in the ground and seemed to beckon me to approach; but as I was advancing towards them, they violently shook their boughs at me and, having set them on fire, dashed them to the ground, calling out “Nangry” (sit down).  I accordingly obeyed the mandate; but seeing that they stood and continued their unfriendly gestures, I arose and called to my party, on which the natives immediately turned, and ran away.*

(Footnote.  Harmer says:  “It was usual with the Greeks (Alex. ab Alex.  Genial Dier 1 v c3) when armies were about to engage, that before the first ensigns stood a prophet or priest, bearing branches of laurels and garlands, who was called Pyrophorus, or the torch-bearer, because he held a lamp or torch; and it was accounted a most criminal thing to do him any hurt, because he performed the office of an ambassador.  This sort of men were priests of Mars, and sacred to him, so that those who were conquerors always spared them.  Hence, when a total destruction of an army, place, or people, was hyperbolically expressed, it used to be said:  ‘not so much as a torch-bearer, or fire-carrier escaped.’” Herod.  Urania sive 1 8 c6.)

I took forward some men, huzzaing after them for a short distance, and we fired one shot over their heads as they ran stumbling to the other side of an intervening clear flat, towards the tribe who were assembling as lookers-on.  There they made a fire, and seeming disposed to stop, I ordered four men with muskets to advance and make them quit that spot; but the men had scarcely left the camp when the natives withdrew and joined the tribe beyond, amid much laughter and noise.

A TRIBE FROM THE SOUTH-EAST.

These were some natives who had the day before arrived from the south-east, having joined the fishing tribe while they were at our present camp.  These men of the south-east had a remarkable peculiarity of countenance, occasioned by high cheek-bones and compressed noses.  We imagined we had met their bravado very successfully, for soon after they had been chased from our camp part of them crossed the country to the eastward, as if returning whence they came.  They passed us at no great distance, but did not venture to make further demonstrations with burning boughs.