Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/156

 90 QUARRELSOME NATIVES. 18th, Sabbath. A good attendance at Divine service in the morning. I had begun service in the evening when a violent quarrel and fight arose at some camps about 200 yards away, and there was so much noise that we were obliged to leave off. They kept up the disturbance until after ten o’clock, when we tried to get some rest notwithstanding the noise and fighting of these foolish quarrelsome people. 19th. At daylight this morning the sound of quarrelling and fighting was the first thing we heard. I felt disheartened. After breakfast I found out the cause of quarrel. Minora heard the people in Captain Jack’s camp say something he did not like, so he went and threw a spear right into the wurley amongst the men, women, and children. It stuck through a man’s hand who was cutting tobacco. This was about as bad as firing a gun in at the window of a house. Captain Jack jumped up, rushed out, and threw a spear at the other wurley. It struck nobody, but a fierce quarrel ensued. At last, Teenminne said it was wicked to fight on Sunday; and after a while they quieted down. First thing this morning, when Teenminne and Pelican got up, they saw a spear with the point towards them stuck in the ground opposite their sleeping place, as if someone had thrown it at them in their sleep. Pelican in his rage seized a heavy spear, rushed at Captain Jack, and threw it at him, transfixing his leg. Then Captain Jack returned the compliment, and speared Pelican’s leg. This ended the row. 21st. The blacks have been fighting ever since Sunday night until noon to-day. They then decamped, one party going in one direction and the other in the opposite. I am very thankful at this, for the whole affair has worried me incessantly. 15th October. I have heard that some of the young men at the wurleys have begun to pray regularly, although they are laughed at by their fellows. One of them said he believed that what I preached was true. They get a good deal of ridicule. Maggie Naraminyeri told me that she prays, and that she believes that Jesus has forgiven her. Praise the Lord for all this, to Him be the glory.