them. Apropos, that date is the anniversary of the Governor's misfortune of the year 1790, when he was speared by a native in Manly Bay, in a manner which savours much of imprudence next to folly. Bennilong, as I said in my letters, had made his escape, and this was the first interview since that incident. It, however very near fatal, proved by no means so, as he soon recovered, and it was followed by the fullest intercourse with these people, insomuch that they eat, drink and sleep in the camp with the most perfect sangfroid; and some of their dames, like too many of ours, gladly forego that dear pleasure of nursing their own bratts, and leave them in perfect security to the care of several of the convict women, who are suitably rewarded by the Governor.'
By degrees the natives on the shores of the harbour grew more familiar with the whites, and in the course of two or three years, the aboriginals in the immediate neighbourhood of Sydney ceased to be a serious menace to the colonists, except in cases where individuals suffered through their own misconduct.
Phillip had so thoroughly won the affection of Bennilong that the black, by his own especial request, accompanied the Governor to England, taking with him a fellow-countryman, who before Phillip left had 'regularly joined His Excellency's household.'
Poor Bennilong succumbed to the benefits of civilisation. A letter from Hunter, written just
