off, and placed him on horseback, and brought him into town, when
I saw him.

"Mr. Smith (with the police force) has gone in search of the natives, one
of whom can be identified as having thrown a spear at the boy, he having
a piece of red flannel tied round his beard.

"This circumstance has thrown the settlement into great distress. The
German missionary, Rev. Mr. Schurman, has gone with Mr. Smith. I am told
that the natives have been fired at from some of the stations. I hope
this is not the case. The Rev. Mr. Schurman says that Mr. Edward Hawson
told him he shot after some a short time ago to frighten them, after they
had stolen something from the same hut where they speared his brother.
This is denied by the family, but I will ascertain the truth upon the
return of the party, Mr. E. Hawson having accompanied them."

The natives immediately disappeared from the vicinity of the settlement,
and were not heard of again for a long time. Such is the account of this
melancholy affair as given to Dr. Harvey by the boy, who, I believe, also
made depositions before a magistrate to the same effect. Supposing this
account to be true, and that the natives had not received any previous
provocation either from him or from any other settlers in the
neighbourhood, this would appear to be one of the most wanton, cold
blooded, and treacherous murders upon record, and a murder seemingly as
unprovoked as it was without object. Had the case been one in which the
European had been seen for the first time by the aboriginal inhabitants
of the country, it would have been neither surprising nor at variance
with what more civilised nations would probably have done under
circumstances of a similar nature. Could we imagine an extraordinary
looking being, whose presence and attributes were alike unknown to us,
and of a nature to excite our apprehensions, suddenly appearing in any
part of our own country, what would be the reception he would meet with
among ourselves, and especially if by locating himself in any particular
part of the country he prevented us from approaching those haunts to
which we had been accustomed from our infancy to resort, and which we
looked upon as sacred to ourselves? It is not asserting too much to say
that in such a case the country would be raised in a hue and cry, and the
intruder would meet with the fate that has sometimes befallen the
traveller or the colonist when trespassing upon the dominions of the
savage