I perceived the fires of the natives at no great distance from our camp, and Dawkins went forward taking with him a tomahawk and a small loaf.  He soon came upon a tribe of about thirty men, women, and children, seated by the ponds, with half a kangaroo and some crayfish cooked before them, and also a large vessel of bark containing water.  Now Dawkins must have been, in appearance, so different to all the ideas these poor people had of their fellow-men, that on the first sight of such an apparition it was not surprising that, after a moment’s stare, they precipitately took to the pond, floundering through it, some up to the neck, to the opposite bank.  He was a tall, spare figure, in a close white dress, surmounted by a broad-brimmed straw hat, the tout-ensemble somewhat resembling a mushroom; and these dwellers by the waters might well have believed, from his silent and unceremonious intrusion, that he had risen from the earth in the same manner.  The curiosity of the natives, who had vanished as fast as they could, at length overcame their terrors so far as to induce them to peep from behind the trees at their mysterious visitor.  Dawkins, not in the least disconcerted, made himself at home at the fires, and on seeing them on the other side, began his usual speech:  “What for you jerran budgery whitefellow?"* etc.  He next drew forth his little loaf, endeavouring to explain its meaning and use by eating it; and he then began to chop a tree by way of showing off the tomahawk; but the possession of a peculiar food of his own astounded them still more.  His final experiment was attended with no better effect; for when he sat down by their fire, by way of being friendly, and began to taste their kangaroo, they set up a shout which induced him to make his exit with the same celerity which no doubt had rendered his debut outrageously opposed to their ideas of etiquette, which imperatively required that loud cooeys** should have announced his approach before he came within a mile of their fires.  Dawkins had been cautioned as to the necessity for using this method of salutation, but he was an old tar, and Jack likes his own way of proceeding on shore; besides, in this case, Dawkins came unawares upon them, according to his own account; and it was only by subsequent experience that we learnt the danger of thus approaching the aboriginal inhabitants.  Some of this party carried spears on their shoulders or trailing in their hands, and the natives are never more likely to use such weapons than when under the impulse of sudden terror.

(Footnote.  “Why are you afraid of a good white man?” etc.)

(**Footnote.  The natives’ mode of hailing each other when at a distance in the woods.  It is so much more convenient than our own holla, or halloo, that it is universally adopted by the colonists of New South Wales.)

I continued my ride for six miles in a north-west direction without discovering any indication of either river; on the contrary, the country was chiefly open, being beautifully variegated with clumps of picturesque trees.  The weather was very hot until a thunder-shower fell and cooled the air in some degree.  During the night the mosquitoes were very troublesome; and the men rolled about in the grass unable to find rest.