The Australian Crusoes; or, The adventures of an English settler and his family in the wilds of Australia . break-winds formed of branches of trees, and linedwith wide strips of bark. These rude protections fromthe wind were about four feet high, and we remarkedthat one apart from the rest had the distinction of anattempt at a roof, but of dimensions not more than suf-ficient to contain a single person. Large fires werelighted before the break-winds, at which some of the na-tives reclined; others were standing listlessly here andthere, and some of the women were engaged in tendingtheir childre
The Australian Crusoes; or, The adventures of an English settler and his family in the wilds of Australia . break-winds formed of branches of trees, and linedwith wide strips of bark. These rude protections fromthe wind were about four feet high, and we remarkedthat one apart from the rest had the distinction of anattempt at a roof, but of dimensions not more than suf-ficient to contain a single person. Large fires werelighted before the break-winds, at which some of the na-tives reclined; others were standing listlessly here andthere, and some of the women were engaged in tendingtheir children. Almost the whole party was naked;but one man, whom by his stature and bearing we re-cognised as Musqueeto, was distinguished by a blackhat, with waistcoat and trousers, and one or two of thewomen had something which looked like old and dirtyblankets thrown over their shoulders. We remainedfor some time watching them from our hiding-place, butwe could observe no signs of the child whom we hadcome so far to rescue; and wc hud sad misgivings of hersafety. Having made all the observations in our power,. ?4^: THS NATIVES CAHRYrNG OFF THE OIPSTS DAa-iHrER. ARE THE Natives Cannibals? 443 ?we retreated back to the brow of the hill, and consultedtogether as tcthe best course to pursue. If you would be pleased to take my advice, sir,said Sanders, I would wait till night, when the nativesare afraid to move about, and then, by advancing twotogether, we might take them by surprise, and the firstthing would be to shoot down Musqueeto, and the menof the party, and then if they run away with the child—that is, if they havent murdered it already, which I thinkmost likely—we can pursue them with our horses, fortheyre terribly afraid of a horse; they think it bites,and fights with its fore-legs. I confess, said the magistrate, I am very muchdisappointed not to see the little girl; our object is torelease her, not to slaughter these naked savages. Didyou ever know them to eat a white person
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