Page:The Present State and Prospects of the Port Phillip District of New South Wales.djvu/194

 part of his wages, and had recently sat down in the neighbourhood with about a thousand sheep in charge of himself and another man. They concluded, from this that he had been murdered, and his sheep taken. On proceeding a little further, at the other side of a rising ground, the attention of the party was attracted by seeing a number of crows and eagle hawks hovering over something, which, upon making a reconnoisance [sic], they found to be the carcasses of sheep, upon which a large party of natives had just been regaling themselves: this party were close at hand. It was resolved to attack them; and the officer divided his force into two parts, of which one, consisting of three native troopers, was to creep up in front, to fire, and then make a rush upon the natives; while the other party, consisting of the officer and the four settlers, under the guidance of the fourth trooper, were to creep round and intercept their flight. The three troopers being rather dilatory in making their attack, the order of things was changed, and the European party commenced the attack by firing on the natives, and then rushing on. The party attacked fled in all directions, some of them coming under the fire of the three black troopers originally detached. The result was, that nine natives were left dead upon the spot, all of whom were men. The party now proceeded to the hut of the old man Basset, whom, as they had anticipated, they found murdered, his body much mutilated, and his sheep driven off.

When we analyze this case, what does it amount to? Two barbarous and unprovoked murders are committed, besides a wholesale robbery of sheep; and the persons