Page:Narrativeavoyag01wilsgoog.djvu/198

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166
CHARACTER AND MANNERS OF

lected, when one of their countrymen was confined[1], it may be conjectured, that they are by no means thinly spread.

On the occasion alluded to, two natives, who had observed Luga taken into custody, left the settlement, and spread the tidings. In the evening, Wooloogary arrived, accompanied by fifty men at arms. From the time the two natives left, until Wooloogary's arrival, there was an interval of six hours; they had to walk two or three miles, and to cross and re-cross a strait two miles wide. It is difficult to know whether they would have acted hostilely, had their friend not been released; perhaps they only came to intercede in his behalf, and, according to the custom of civilized politicians, thought their request might be better attended to, by making a formidable appearance.

The only warlike weapons that they used (as far as we could learn) were spears, of different forms and sizes; the largest are from nine to ten feet long: some are serrated, and named burreburai; others are headed with a sharp stone, and named imburbē. They use the throwing stick, named rogorook, which is exactly of the same form, and made in the same manner, as that in use among the natives about Port Jackson. Besides these, they have small sharp-pointed spears, which they chiefly use in the spearing of fish.

We could not learn whether they were in the habit of fighting with each other, or with neighbouring tribes;

  1. Vide page 76.