Page:Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay.djvu/68

 afford to give them any more flour, for which they had formed a great predilection.

I was sorry to see that the horses, which were first-rate ones, and possessed extraordinary powers of endurance, frequently exemplified on previous occasions, were nearly knocked up, although we had walked on foot all this day, with the exception of a short distance on the more gently inclined lower slopes of the ranges: they had abundance of good grass and water during this excursion, but the steepness of the hills was almost too much for them, and they had, on two or three occasions this day^ made stumbles at the sides of gullies, into which they narrowly escaped falling.

March 14th.— This morning we crossed another of the Nambucca streams. As we entered the brush we heard the loud shouts of the blacks who were busily engaged in hunting. The plan adopted by the natives in this pursuit, was somewhat similar, on a small scale, to the mode of hunting pursued by some of the Indian princes. The blacks first of all dispersed, and formed in the brush a circle of a quarter of a mile in diameter, and then, on a given signal, they all commenced shouting and advancing towards the centre, gradually lessening the circle. The brush-kangaroos or pademellas were thus gradually enclosed, and driven into a small space, where, being surrounded on all sides, they were dispatched by the natives, who carried for this purpose short cylindrical pieces of wood, formed from a species of tree