rable plans were
propounded for their capture: some merit remembrance from their oddity,
and some for their kindness. It was suggested, that those natives in
custody should be driven forward, secured by a tether, and thus
compelled to guide the pursuit. It was also proposed, that depots of
flour, sugar, and other tempting articles of food should be placed in
the tracks, and when natives were engaged in seizing the prize, the
Philistines would be upon them. A third plan recommended, that four or
five persons should be placed in the vicinity of huts, to be erected for
the purpose: they were to stand outside, and allure the natives; and
when seen by them, to feign alarm, and run. The natives, it was
expected, would make for the seemingly abandoned dwellings, to be
surprised by the English, lying in ambush. Their dogs often gave them
notice of approach: a scheme was propounded, to turn this advantage
against them. The English were to be furnished with two sets of dogs:
one leash, swift and fierce, to pursue the dogs of the natives; but as
both would soon vanish from the sight of the pursuers, the second
species were to be retained, to scent their course. Thus, the native
would run first,--his dogs after him; then would come the large dogs of
the English--then their little dogs; and, finally, the captors! An old
mariner, who had witnessed the effect of music in taming savage tribes,
proposed to try the persuasion of sweet sounds. He was not aware, that
the expedient had been in vain tested under happier auspices; even had
it been possible for a military band to career along with the requisite
speed. The musician of the _Recherche_ carried his instrument on shore,
and played his sweetest melodies: the natives took no notice. Unwilling
to doubt the efficacy of his art, on his next visit he used sharper
tones and quicker measures: the aborigines put their fingers to their
ears, and the Frenchman dropped his fiddle in despair.

It will be proper briefly to notice the state of the public mind at the
moment. The natives were now a mere handful: an irregular contest of
several years duration, now and then slackened, was ever adding some new
victim to the slain. The constables occasionally fell in with the
temporary huts, which told the mournful tale of rapid depopulation. In
tracks, where thirty or forty huts had, in former years, indicated a
considerable clan, four or five only were reared; but while the natives
diminished, they s