uman beings. The "written message" I
referred to on these occasions was my old Bible. Of course the blacks
failed to understand its purport as a book, having no written language of
their own; but my manner and words served to impress them.

My natives seemed ever to manifest the keenest interest in the accounts I
gave them of the wonderful resources of civilisation; but experience
showed that I must adapt my descriptions to the intellect of my hearers.
For example, I used to tell them that in the great cities ("camps" I
called them) there was never any real darkness if men chose, because
there were other lights at command which could be turned off and on at
will. The most effective analogy in this respect was the twinkling of
the stars in the heavens; but my hearers were greatly amazed to think
that such lights could be under the command of man.

The blacks had long since put me down as a great spirit come to visit
them, and they even located by common consent a certain star in the
heavens which they decided was at one time my home, and to which I should
eventually return. Every time I made a false step, I had to devise some
new "miracle" by way of counterblast.

On one occasion I actually made a perambulator for the conveyance of
children! It was the very first time that these primitive savages had
seen the principle of the wheel applied to locomotion, and it passed
their comprehension altogether. With childish delight and an uproar that
baffles all description, both men and women almost fought with one
another for the honour of pushing the crude little conveyance about. The
perambulator was made out of logs, and was a four-wheeled vehicle; the
rims of the wheels being cut from a hollow tree. My blacks were also
much amazed at the great size of my mountain home; but their wonderment
increased greatly when I explained to them that some of the buildings in
the great "camps" of the white man were as large as the hills, and much
more numerous.

Elsewhere I have spoken of the extraordinary system of telegraphy that
exists among the blacks. Well, in the early eighties news began to reach
me that numbers of white men had appeared in the north; and in one of my
many long tramps I one day came upon a party of white men engaged in
prospecting. I speak of this remarkable meeting thus abruptly because
their tent met my gaze in the most abrupt manner possible. It is ever so
in the Australian bush.

I found that this