during the night. On examining the
spears we found they most certainly belonged to the tribe we had left the
previous day. The spear-heads were of a different kind of flint from
anything I had previously seen, being dark green in colour; and they were
extremely sharp. The individuality of the different tribes is strongly
and decidedly marked in the make of their spears. Our treacherous hosts
had evidently determined to obtain the coveted tomahawk by force, and
when they reached the spot where they supposed we lay (they could not see
into the interior from the front), they hurled their spears in the hope
of killing us, but did not investigate the result, they being such arrant
cowards at night. Remember, they had actually ventured at night into the
bush in spite of their inveterate fear of "the spirits."

The precaution adopted on this occasion was always followed by us when we
had any real doubt about the natives; that is to say, we built a "dummy"
gunyah of boughs, which we were supposed to sleep in; and we covered in
the front so as our possible assailants could not easily detect our
absence. We would then creep away into the bush or hide behind a tree,
and, of course, would light no fire.

Many times was that same tomahawk coveted. You see, the natives would
watch me cutting boughs with it, or procuring honey by cutting down
branches with an ease that caused them to despise their own rude stone
axes.

The case of treachery I have just described was not an isolated one, but
I am bound to say such occurrences were rare in the interior--although
more or less frequent about the western shores of the Gulf of
Carpentaria. At any rate, this was my experience.

During our journey from my home to the shores of the Gulf, I remember
coming across a flat country from which the natives had apparently
disappeared altogether. When we did come upon them, however, in the high
ground I was probably guilty of some little breach of etiquette, such as
_looking_ at the women--(for many reasons I always studied the various
types in a tribe)--and Yamba and I were often in peril of our lives on
this account. As a rule, however, safety lay in the fact that the
natives are terribly afraid of darkness, and they believe the spirits of
the dead roam abroad in the midnight hours.

Month after month we continued our progress in a southerly direction,
although, as I have said before, we often turned north-east and even due
west, foll