Natives in 1826. He was engaged as one of the convict crew of a small coaster, carrying round a party of ladies and gentlemen to the east coast. Landing for the night on East Bay Neck, a notable place for depredations at that period, he heard the stealthy approach of the bloodthirsty tribe, when his companions were asleep. Arousing the crew, and putting them upon their guard, he permitted the band of some forty marauders to near the fire, when, at a signal from him, a general discharge of muskets took place, which strewed the ground with dead and dying. Dreading a renewal of the attack, the gentlemen proceeded to spread themselves among the trees of the forest, and kept up an irregular fire to distract the attention of their enemies. Despatched upon a mission to the tent, wherein the ladies were staying for the night, the narrator of the story narrowly escaped a spear thrown at his crouching form. Fearful of exciting unnecessary alarm by firing at his adversary, he secreted himself till he came nearer. The attack is thus described: "I waited till he was within arm's length of me. In an instant our eyes met—his spear was uplifted. Another moment brought me to my feet, the tomahawk grasped firmly in my right hand. His look, as far as I could ascertain, was wild and ferocious, but I stood calm and collected. His eyes gave no evidence of fear, for they appeared like balls of fire. His raised spear descended first, but, happily for me, its point struck the steel buckle of my belt, opposite my breast. In the next instant, the tomahawk whirled round his head, and fell with a force which a head thicker than that of a savage could not resist, and, without a sigh, he fell dead to the ground."
It was lucky for one poor fellow that the Natives enjoy a sense of the ridiculous. A shepherd of Jerusalem—which lies in a carboniferous region, with the greenstone covering the coal, and not far from Jericho and the River Jordan—being oppressed with the indolence of his occupation, and the heat of the day, placed his gun against a tree and fell asleep. Some Blacks came softly round, took away the weapon, and, with a loud simultaneous shout, startled the Bushman from his dreams. He jumped up in a great fright, saw the Natives around, missed his gun, and stared in such indescribable confusion, that the risible faculties of the robbers were much excited; and so, after a hearty laugh at their intended victim, they permitted him to leave in safety.
