Page:The Boy Travellers in Australasia.djvu/378

354 "A black in his wild state is rarely seen without a spear in his hand, and this reminds me of one of my early experiences. I went out in the bush one day with some of the friendly blacks, and had walked a short distance in front of them when one of the party stopped me. He motioned for me to step to the rear, and then said,

When you walk in bush along a blackfellow, you make him blackfellow walk first time (in front).'

"When I asked what for, he replied, 'I den know. I believe debil debil jump up; want him blackfellow spear whitefellow.' You can be sure I took the hint, and ever afterwards allowed the blacks to take the lead. Several times since then friendly natives have told me that when a white man is walking in front of them there is an almost irresistible inclination to spear him.

"They have a superstition which they express in these words: 'Blackfellow die, jump up whitefellow;' which means that when a black man dies he reappears as a white one. In the early days of the settlement at Sydney, the convicts who ran away into the bush were almost certain to be killed by the blacks if they escaped death by