Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/169

 DIFFICULTIES WITH NATIVE YOUTHS. 103 fellows, and their pride knew no bounds. Of all failings this is the one into which the blacks fall most readily. This cause of trouble gradually ceased after several successive classes of boys grew up and finished their school life. It was, however, a cause of great annoyance and hindrance at the first. On the one hand the old blacks wanted to make the youths go through the disgusting ceremonies of narumbe, which I felt bound to oppose, and on the other, the young fellows were intoxicated with vanity, conceit, and self-assertion. Three who gave me much annoyance were named Tippoo, Turtle, and Nipper. They were all clever lads. I had hoped that Christian influences would lay hold upon them, but in this I was disappointed. Some extracts from my journal will illustrate some of our trials of patience in this direction:  llth October, 1864. To-day, Nipper gave the natives some trouble. He came to his father’s hut, a large native hut built of logs and reeds, some fourteen feet in diameter, and demanded bread. His mother told him she had none, as the flour was all expended. No uncommon thing with them, as they frequently, consume all the bread, and then take to fish and game. So Nipper flew into a rage, and, taking a firestick from the fire, he set the whole camp in a blaze. His mother and two infant children were within at the time, and had a narrow escape from the flames; for a high wind was blowing, and the place ignited like tinder. Spears, clothes, blankets, guns, cooking utensils, and all the various odds and ends of a native camp were burned. Lurundinyeri got severely scorched in trying to save some things. Nangowane received a severe wound in the leg. When the mischief was done, the fellow who had caused it sneaked off, and has not been seen since. The loss in goods to the natives must be some ten or twelve pounds. A serious loss to them. 14th. Was much abused to-day by two of the young fellows. One of them stood and called me everything he could think of, all the time holding a loaded gun in his hand. I made a rush at him, seized the gun and fired it off, then took the ramrod and