Page:Some account of the wars, extirpation, habits.djvu/70

62 footmarks.") He followed on their trail till the last day of 1831, when he says:—"I succeeded in effecting a friendly communication with those sanguinary tribes." But his own dark-coloured friends were so much afraid of the strangers, that it was long before he could persuade them to go over to them. They told him they were quite certain these men would kill them all, and made all sorts of excuses to get out of it; but he would not hear them, and one of them, a chief, ran away sooner than face them. His messengers at length consented to go to them, but quite failed in their mission, and instead of procuring a friendly meeting the two tribes marched in a body to his tent to destroy him. He says:—"In less than half-an-hour I heard their war-whoop, by which I knew they were advancing upon me. I also heard the rattle of their spears as they drew near." It must have been a moment of deep anxiety and fear to all; but the wonderful presence of mind of the man, which never deserted him in danger, now carried him successfully through this awful interview, and the extraodinaryextraordinary [sic] negotiation which concluded it.

They were now within about thirty yards of him, with their spears poised for the attack, and they were just about discharging them, when they were completely thrown off their guard, at hearing him address them in their mother tongue. The effect of his words on the minds of these unsophisticated children of the wilderness was magical, and they involuntarily lowered their weapons as if spell-bound; and it is a singular fact that before dayclose, they gave themselves up to him as prisoners, and consented to accompany him to Hobart Town, about a hundred miles off, where thousands of us saw them all a few days afterwards, peacefully encamped on his own premises in Elizabeth-street, just opposite James' Brewery. These people had with them one hundred dogs.

In his journey to Hobart Town with them, he placed them under no restraint whatever. He permitted them to leave his camp at will, to hunt or otherwise amuse themselves; but such was the ascendency he acquired over them from the first, that they made no effort to quit him, but slept around his tent every night.

In thus giving up their wild liberty, they were seduced by the fair and captivating promises he made them, firstly of an interview with the Governor, who, he told them, would redress all their wrongs, whatever they were; and secondly, of future support and governmental protection against outrage.

It was an awful day for the natives when they trusted the good faith of the Government, which seized them as prisoners directly they got them, and consigned them to the Straits islands,