not a soldier, as strong as a pack-horse, undertaken to carry his knapsack in addition to his own, we must either have sent him back or have stopped at a place for the night which did not afford water.'
The two blacks who accompanied the party, says Tench, 'walked stoutly, appeared but little fatigued, and maintained their spirits admirably, laughing to excess when any of us either tripped or stumbled. … At a very short distance from Rose Hill, we found that they were in a country unknown to them; so that the farther they went, the more dependant on us they became, being absolute strangers inland. We asked Colbee the name of the people who live inland, and he called them Boo-roo-ber-on-gal, and said they were bad; whence we conjectured that they sometimes warred with those on the sea-coast, by whom they were undoubtedly driven up the country from the fishing-ground, that it might not be overstocked; the weaker here, as in every other country, giving way to the stronger. We asked how they lived. He said on birds and animals, having no fish. … About an hour after sunset, as we were chatting by the fire side, and preparing to go to rest, we heard voices at a little distance in the wood. Our natives catched the sound instantaneously, and bidding us be silent, listened attentively to the quarter whence it had proceeded. In a few minutes we heard the voices plainly; and wishing exceedingly to open a
