Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/158

 92 CAPTAIN JACK. which he got them. He would narrate these combats with animation and graphic power. On one occasion his tribe was pressed by an enemy of superior numbers. Captain Jack tried to rally his flying comrades, and at last was left almost alone, the mark for a hundred spears. He described with great force how the shower of spears descended on his single shield. However, he got off with very few hurts from this desperate skirmish. This man possessed all the virtues and vices of a savage. He had great physical courage and intrepidity. I never saw him afraid. He was endowed with much power of endurance. He was attached to his friends and country, and very fond of his children. But on the other hand he was greedy, and, like every true savage, dearly liked to take what he wanted from any one weaker than himself without asking leave. He was intensely superstitious, very revengeful, a dreaded sorcerer, and lazy and gluttonous when it was convenient. He attached himself to me, and we became great friends. He could clearly see that much temporal good was to be gained by the natives from our Station, so he desired that his children might be kept at school. He often exerted his influence in a very useful manner. He knew that I objected to their fights, and especially on the Station, so I have seen him rush among the combatants and smash spears right and left to prevent them from being used by their owners. He had no objection to a battle at a distance from the location. Very frequently have I sat in his wurley and tried to enlighten his dark mind with the truths of God’s Word; but it was all in vain; he never became a Christian. One week he never came to our Sabbath worship, and so afterwards I inquired the reason. He replied that it was useless for him to come, as he found that he could not do what Jesus wanted him to do. I asked what that was. He said, "You tell me I must only have one wife if I serve Jesus. Now my oldest wife, Kitty, is lame, and has only one leg, and my youngest wife, Polongane, is the mother of my children. Which, then, can I give up?" I admitted that there was a difficulty, but persuaded him not to let that stand in the way of seeking religious instruction. Captain Jack had a sister