The natives however having immediately discovered our ambuscade by the howling of one of their dogs, halted and poised their spears; but a man of our party (King) inconsiderately discharging his carabine, they fled as usual to their citadel, the river, pursued and fired upon by the party from the scrub. The firing had no sooner commenced than I perceived from the top of the hill which I ascended some of the blacks, who appeared to be a very numerous tribe, swimming across the Murray. I was not then aware what accidental provocation had brought on this attack without my orders, but it was not the time to inquire; for the men who were with me, as soon as they heard the shots of their comrades and saw me ascend the hill, ran furiously down the steep bank to the river, not a man remaining with the carts. The hill behind which these were posted was about a quarter of a mile from the river, and was very steep on that side, while on the intervening space or margin below lofty gum trees grew, as in other similar situations. By the time I had also got down, the whole party lined the riverbank, the men with Burnett being at some distance above the spot at which I reached it. Most of the natives were then near the other side, and getting out while others were swimming down the stream. The sound of so much firing must have been terrible to them and it was not without effect, if we may credit the information of Piper who was afterwards informed that seven had been shot in crossing the river, and among them the fellow in the cloak, who at Benanee appeared to be the chief. Much as I regretted the necessity for firing upon these savages, and little as the men might have been justifiable under other circumstances for firing upon any body of men without orders, I could not blame them much on this occasion; for the result was the permanent deliverance of the party from imminent danger. Our men were liable in turn to be exposed singly while attending the cattle, which often unavoidably strayed far from the camp during the night; and former experience had, in my mind, rendered the death of some of these men certain. I was indeed satisfied that this collision had been brought about in the most providential manner; for it was probable that, from my regard for the aborigines, I might otherwise have postponed giving orders to fire longer than might have been consistent with the safety of my men. Such was the fate of the barbarians who, a year before, had commenced hostilities by attacking treacherously a small body of strangers, which, had it been sent from heaven, could not have done more to minister to their wants than it did then, nor endured more for the sake of peace and goodwill. The men had then been compelled to fire in their own defence and at the risk of my displeasure. The hostility of these savages had also prevented me from dividing my party, and obliged me to retire from the Darling sooner than I might otherwise have done. It now appeared that they had discovered this, judging from their present conduct, and unappalled by the effect of firearms, to which they were no longer strangers, they had boastingly invaded the haunts of other tribes, more peaceably disposed than themselves, for the avowed purpose of meeting and attacking us. They had persisted in following us with such bundles of spears as we had never seen on other occasions, and they were on the alert to kill any stragglers, having already, as they acknowledged, destroyed two of our cattle.
This collision took place so suddenly that no man had thought of remaining at the heads of the horses and cattle, as already stated; nor was I aware of this until, on returning to them, I found the reins in the hands of Piper's gin; a tall woman who, wrapped in a blanket, with Piper's sword on her shoulder, and having a blind eye, opaque and white like that of some Indian idol, presented rather a singular appearance as she stood the only guardian of all we possessed. Her presence of mind in assuming such a charge on such an occasion was very commendable, and seemed characteristic of the female aborigines.
I gave to the little hill which witnessed this overthrow of our enemies and was to us the harbinger of peace and tranquillity the name of Mount Dispersion.
CROSS A TRACT INTERSECTED BY DEEP LAGOONS.
The day's journey was still before us. On leaving the river we soon encountered a small creek or ana-branch* and, though I made a practice of avoiding all such obstructions by going round rather than crossing them, yet in the present case I was compelled to deviate from my rule on finding that this creek would take me too far northward. Soon after, we approached a lagoon and during the whole day, turn wherever we would, we were met by similar bodies of water or, as I considered them, pools left in the turnings and windings of some ana-branch formed during high floods of the river. Nevertheless I managed to preserve a course in the desired direction; and at length we encamped on the bank of several deep ponds which lay in the channel of a broad watercourse. I was anxious to avoid if possible being shut up between ana-branches and the river lest, as the river seemed rising, I might be at length surrounded by deep water. I was in some uncertainty here about the actual situation of the Murray and our position was anything but good; for it was in the midst of scrubby ground, and did not command, in any way, the place where alone grass enough was to be found for the cattle. The bergs of the river were not to be seen, although the river itself could not be distant; for the whole country traversed this day was of that description which belongs to the margin of streams, being grassy land under an open forest containing goborro and yarra trees. These are seldom found in that region at any considerable distance from the banks of the river, the whole interior country being covered with Eucalyptus dumosa and patches of the pine or Callitris pyramidalis.
(*Footnote. See above.)
PLATE 26: THE RIVER MURRAY, AND DISPERSION OF NATIVES, 27TH MAY, 1836.
Major T.L. Mitchell del. J. Brandord and G. Barnard Lith. J. Graf Printer to Her Majesty.
Published by T. and W. Boone, London.
May 28.