Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/155

 NEILYERI. 89 useless and omission of them harmless, breaks through and sets all at nought. Such men though are generally not good characters. There was one named Tungeriol; he had been made narumbe, but had not been sufficiently initiated to be allowed to marry. Nevertheless he eloped with a girl named Tycarabbe, and lived with her as his wife at a cattle station near. One night, some months after, the old men decoyed him down to a camp away from the protection of the whites, pretending that his crime was forgotten. All on a sudden five of them seized him and smothered him. We could never discover his murderers, although we used every effort to do so. The elders of the tribe began to resort to secret assassination to uphold their power. This they called neilyeri. Only a short time ago, upon examining an unburied skeleton from which the sand had blown away, there was found, stuck fast between the ribs, the bone dagger with which the victim had been killed. A few more illustrations of our difficulties and struggles from my daily record of the Mission may not be inappropriate. 30th July, 1861. Had a long conversation with Teenminne and others about the death of Jesus. One of them has been much impressed by a dream. They place great reliance on dreams. To-day three of the older boys, Tippoo, Weellee, and Turtle, left the school because, they said, one of the older girls was unfit to be there, and they would not eat out of the same flour. This is a pity; they will lose all the good they have got. I spoke to them very faithfully and kindly before they went, but it was of no use. One of their mothers who stood by said, "What for you try to frighten them?" 9th August. To-day the two girls, on account of whom the three boys left me, went off to the camps and left their clothes. It seems that it is of no use to stand up for the females, they are sure to give way at last. If I had never taken these girls, I should have kept my three boys. 17th August. Large numbers of natives arrived from the Murray. I hear that a fight is to come off.