them, would have let them free, had not Mr. Batman convinced him that the poor creatures would be shot if released.
But in spite of the good service rendered by the women, Mr. Batman believed that they were not fully to be relied upon in an emergency; for, although conscious of the honest intentions of Government toward their race, they would at times relax in their efforts, and spread false reports, from a natural feeling of unwillingness to see them taken prisoners.
Mr. Batman, as an old ranger in the forests of New South Wales, had experience of the fine tracking powers of the New Holland Aborigines, and wished to have such auxiliaries with him in his present work. Addressing the Governor upon the subject, on March 18th, 1830, he distinguished the kind he required: "They should be got from the interior, as those about the town of Sydney are accustomed to the drinking of spirits, and have in a great measure lost their natural gift of tracking."
Colonel Arthur approved of the suggestion. Accordingly, Pigeon and Crook were procured, and continued for several years attached to Mr. Batman's person, and companions in his wonderful adventures. Years after, they and one of his old English servants went across with him to the establishment of a settlement at Port Phillip, where they discovered Buckley, the Wild White man, who had been living with the Port Phillip Blacks for thirty-two years. Such was the estimation in which the efforts of these so-called Sydney Natives were held, that, in 1831, others were sent for by the authorities, "to be employed," said the Courier of September, "as instruments, under the direction of properly-qualified persons, to conciliate and civilize the Natives of our own island."
Pigeon and Crook were despatched for the new men, who stipulated for a dollar a day, a suit of clothes, and a medal. The names of the guides were John Pigeon, John Crook, John Waterman, William Sawyers, John Peter, and John Radley. Their native appellations were respectively Warroba, Jonninbia, Monowara, Nombardo, Bollo'-bolong, and Terro'mallee.
Their conduct, real or alleged, provoked much discussion at the time. It was said they would be bloodthirsty destroyers of the poor Tasmanians, and that, instead of ameliorating their social condition, they would introduce fresh vices, and incite
