Page:Diary of ten years.djvu/202

 184 In consequence of these horrible occurrences we have been very uneasy.

A party of natives have been at Mr. Bull's to-day again, and seem to impute blame to the soldiers alone.

Rain to-night—the first we have had for some time—it is very seasonable and refreshing.

3rd.—After breakfast I rode with Captain Irwin to lay out a line of road from the head of the river to Guildford. Messrs. Tanner, Peyton, and Mears called in the evening, and mentioned that the soldiers had shot a native, and taken three prisoners.

4th,—Two natives came here to-day: one of them is learning to speak English, and is very intelligent. I discovered the names of more than a dozen who were concerned in the recent murder; among others, two sons of Ya-gan, Narah and Willim, the latter a young imp not more than ten or eleven years of age: we are greatly in their power, and must keep on good terms with them, if possible. One of them had a number of frogs (which I think he called "dweep") nicely packed up in the bark of the tea-tree, and tied with grass; these he signified they roasted for food, with a long white root, growing like a parsnip, which they dig up in wet weather.

I have this day dismissed the sawyers, because, in addition to the stipulated price for sawing, they charged £3 for merely making a saw-pit, and felling a few trees.

I have been obliged to pay £2 for the woodwork of a pair of harrows; so you see how mechanics may thrive here; they are the sort of people to get on well, or those who have everything within themselves—a self-contained family, as it were, who can do without servants;—the father to plan, the boys to execute, and the girls to cook, wash, and transact all the household affairs - these are the persons calculated for this place; your gentleman will never do, unless he brings out a cheap, steady establishment, a capital to support it, and is willing to employ both himself and them in active labour.