United States or Ghana ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Kaiber, Captain Grey's guide, was bidden to gather a few of these muscles to make a meal for the party of hungry travellers in the Bush, but at first he would not move, declaring that if he touched these shell-fish, the Boyl-yas would be the death of him.
Interested by an account I had received of the boyl-yas from the women, after Mulligo's death, I endeavoured to obtain from Kaiber a more ample statement of their belief relative to these people.
See Mitchell's Three Expeditions, vol. ii. p. 271. In Western Australia, Captain Grey, having galloped after some wild cattle which he had met in his journey, found, upon wishing to ascertain the hour, that his watch had fallen from his pocket during the chase. He waited until the rest of his party came up, and then requested Kaiber, their native guide, to walk back and find the watch.
Soon after starting we sighted Mount Perron, distant about two and twenty miles and, seen over the waste and barren plains which surrounded us, it was a very remarkable object. We halted at noon for about two hours, during which time I made my breakfast with Kaiber, sharing my remaining portion of damper between us.
I now knew that he was playing me false and that he had purposely led me astray. He was too great a coward to move on alone for fear of other natives and, dreading to lose his life by thirst, he had hit upon this expedient of inducing me to abandon the others and to proceed with him. "Do you see the sun, Kaiber, and where it now stands?" I replied to him. "Yes," was his answer.
Unable to bear these distressing scenes any longer I ordered Kaiber to accompany me, and notwithstanding the heat and my own weariness I left the others lying down in such slight shade as the stunted banksias afforded, and throwing aside all my ammunition, papers, etc., started with him in search of water, carrying nothing but my double-barrelled gun. We proceeded towards the sea.
He was indeed as weak from want of food as any of us, for we had made such rapid and lengthy marches in the hope of speedily forwarding assistance to those left behind that when we came at night to the conclusion of our day's journey Kaiber was too much exhausted to think of looking for food.
I pounced in triumph on it and received a bite which, famishing as I was, somewhat damped my ardour; Kaiber however hit it upon the head with a stick, and we then bore it off to our fire.
The decided manner in which I announced this to my friend Kaiber had the desired effect. The men, who had been much surprised at the length of my absence, were at first buoyed up with the hope that I had found water; but this hope had at last died away, and they knew not what to conjecture.
I now lost all patience with him and replied: "Kaiber, deceive as you will, you cannot deceive me; follow back our tracks instantly to the point from whence we started: if you do not find them, as the sun falls you die." "I am wearied," answered he; "for three days I have not either eaten or drunk, far have we wandered since we left them, and very distant from us are they now sitting."
Word Of The Day