They agreed to attack each other first with spears, and then with waddies or clubs; and a regular ring was to be made for the combatants the next afternoon. One of them, however, lost his courage in the morning, and was inclined to let the affair drop; but the women were mixed up with it, and his mother tried to persuade him, for the honour of the tribe, to meet his antagonist; she made him a long speech, which she ended by saying, that the eyes of all the young women were upon him. Inconsistent as it was with the subdued condition of the females, this was conclusive, and the fight took place. The men were showily painted and decorated, and the graceful attitudes into which they threw themselves when they avoided each other's thrusts, was a fine exhibition of the human form. At length, amid their wild cries they suddenly came to a stop, and each offered his leg to the other and received a spear wound in the thigh. This ended the spearing part, and then came the club combat; each stooped to the other alternately, and received his blow, and Captain Spencer found it difficult to divest himself of the belief that there was some trick in it; the blows were so tremendous that it seemed impossible for any skull to bear them, but several were sustained, and then one fell insensible to the ground, as the other staggered and also fell. Both men were carried away, but were walking about the next morning as if nothing had happened.

Whenever Captain Spencer talked of going, there was some reason urged on the part of Warrup and Ugat for detaining him still longer. He had not seen all their games, he had not seen a large Kangaroo hunt; but he soon became so seriously determined that they at last hurried their sights on in quick succession; they pro

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mised to let him witness the throwing of the boomerang or kiley, and before they began they had a game played with a bunch of Emu's feathers tied to a short stick, which was shaken in defiance, and the sport consisted of efforts to take it from its possessor. It was interesting from the display of swiftness, wrestling, jumping and manoeuvring which it evinced. The boomerang is a thin, curved piece of wood, from two to three feet long, and two inches broad, one side of which is slightly rounded, and the other flat. Those intended for war are the largest, and are less curved, because they are only intended to fly in a straight direction, but they are dangerous weapons from the unerring precision with which they are thrown. Ugat, who was the most skilful in the tribe, stood up to show his powers to the Englishman, and he sent his round so as to make a circumference of two hundred and fifty yards from left to right, when it fell at his feet. For about fifty yards it flew as rapidly as an arrow, and continued with diminishing speed till it came to the ground. With a stroke even more vigorous, it hovered like a bird in the air, with a hurtling sound, and, taking a downward course, the tip touched the earth three times with a twang like that of a harp string; it then continued its circular course till it returned to the thrower. Captain Spencer was very much struck with this singular weapon, the principle of which he could not at all explain; he was told that nothing but practice from childhood would enable any one to use it well; that directly they poised it, the skilful could tell whether it would fly or not, and that the slightest shaving from it would prevent its flight. The next man who threw it cast it too forcibly, and when its progress was consequently

arrested, his companions shouted with laughter. The downward throw was also a failure, for it passed the spot where it ought to have rebounded, towered up fifty feet, and then came down quickly. At night some old boomerangs were lighted at one end, thrown all at the same time in different directions, and the effect was beautiful, like that of birds flying about with fiery tails. They are much used in killing Cockatoos. A quieter game was that of cat's cradle, in which these rude natives could have set all the European players at defiance.

The Kangaroo hunt was then organized, and Captain Spencer, mounted on Tiger, was ready first; so having to wait for them, he rode to the river, and was surprised to see how its peculiar plants had flourished since he had last been there; the Geraniums were in full blossom, and the splendid and remarkable Doryanthes excelsa, with its long, broad, aloe-like leaves, was in all its splendour. The hunting party took their way to the spot where they were sure of meeting with Kangaroos ; it was no longer the stealthy, artful attack of the native, whose wives and children lie flat on the ground, scarcely daring to breathe while he gets near to his game; it was not the following of a single man upon its track for three successive days, till the animal, worried and tired, lies down, careless whether it live or die; but it was a regular battue. A plain in which the Kangaroos were feeding was encircled by wood, and the older men assigned stations to the younger, so as to surround the animals before they were conscious that enemies were approaching. They gradually narrowed the circle till one became alarmed, and bounded away; but before it had proceeded far, it was stopped by the most terrific

and hideous shouts; it returned to its companions, and they were paralysed with fear; the natives then dashed on them with their spears, and effected a great slaughter. The prey belongs to him whose spear has first touched it, however slight the wound may be, and if, according to their laws, he is too young to eat it, it is given to his nearest male relation who is of the proper age. The cries used in this hunt are peculiar for every stage of it, and the first is a harsh utterance of the syllable kau. Many were the feasts held that night, and large was the quantity eaten, but the Englishman was not forgotten in the distribution of the best parts, beautifully cooked.

A few nights after the hunt, Captain Spencer was awoke by a great commotion in the camp; talking, quarrelling, and movement in every direction: he sent Kinchela to know the reason, and he returned, saying, that his tribe had departed suddenly in the night, and stolen a young woman, and now it was found out; that the river tribe had often been at enmity with it, and made up their quarrels, but were now determined on following them as soon as they could get ready, and punish them for all misdemeanours, without waiting till they could make a demand for the young woman to be returned. Now, thought the Englishman, I shall be able to get away; but he was mistaken. His friends asked him to go to war with them, for white men knew how to fight. Although a fighting man by profession, Captain Spencer was not so enamoured of it as to wish to fight except for his own country, or in self-defence; and besides this, the crafty sort of warfare of savages little suited his ideas of fair play. He tried to make them understand this, but they said, although he had not used his gun while among them, for fear of frighten