Page:The Native Tribes of South Australia (1879).djvu/177

 VISIT OF THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH. 111 9th. Blacks continue to pour in. This morning there was a quarrel amongst the Port Elliot clan. Then the old enemies, the Murray and Mundoo clans, fell out. Black Agnes ran away from her husband, and caused the row. The Mundoo men attacked the Piltinyerar (Murrays), and so enraged them that it was all I could do to prevent a battle. Old Teelbarry got excited in the squabble, and in her rage executed a vehement war dance, displaying amazing activity, to the intense amusement of everybody. The two clans then sat down and talked over the affair; mutual explanations were given and received, and all was settled with nothing worse than a bumped head, and a woman’s leg cut with a boomerang, which of course I doctored. On the whole, the natives are peaceable. 10th. Sabbath. Present at worship, 110 adults, 40 children. The blacks behaved very decorously all day. There was hardly any singing or dancing. llth. This morning we served out three days’ rations to 400 adults. There are over 500 blacks of all ages here now. It takes all our time to supply their wants. Rations for them have been sent here by the Government, as, of course, it is necessary to provide food for such a gathering of people drawn away from their usual places of abode. The men of the clans practised marching all the morning. At two p.m. all started for Wommeran, Loveday Bay, five miles from here, where the Duke of Edinburgh is to land. The main body went first, I and the children followed. When we got to Wommeran I found the main body of the natives camped a quarter of a mile back from the Lake in the scrub; they said they had been ordered by an officer to stay there. Tents for the accommodation of the Duke and suite were pitched on the open ground next to the Lake. A considerable number of European settlers were assembled there. The natives complained of thirst. It was no easy matter to fetch water such a distance for above 400 people. So I went and asked the officer who appeared to be in charge for leave to let the natives get drink. He refused, and I got rather a rough reception from him. We then marched our school children down to the