Page:An Australian Parsonage.djvu/101

 to the trials and inconveniences of sea sickness. We, on the other hand, had looked forward to the sight of wild men as the very crowning point of a much-enjoyed voyage; nor did the objects of our curiosity keep us long in suspense, being apparently as anxious to see what we were like, as we were to make their acquaintance.

After we had been settled at Barladong about a fortnight the natives began to pay us frequent visits. We had learned the names of several individuals, but had formed no especial friendships, when one morning a shadow fell across our window, and on looking up to ascertain the cause, we saw a stranger standing in a calm, easy attitude, surveying us from two brilliant eyes, with an expression of pleasure mingled with curiosity. His jet-black hair was bound with a fillet in the mode that I have described, and his features were somewhat of the Malay type; his complexion decidedly black, but not the sooty hue of the negro. Cast over his left shoulder, and brought beneath the opposite arm, hung his mantle of kangaroo skin, the fur worn inside, securely fastened with a long wooden pin like a skewer, whilst in one of his hands, which were small and well-shaped, he held lightly a bundle of slender spears six or seven feet in length. A twisted string of opossum fur, in which was stuck his tobacco pipe, was wound several times round the upper part of his bare muscular arm, and his cheeks were painted with a red earth, as a lady puts on rouge. It seemed that he was come to make a call of ceremony upon us as his new neighbours, and not being furnished with a card to send in first, he affably became his own introducer, saying, "I Mister Khourabene—you gentleman fellow—I gentleman fellow—I come see you."