They now possess many things
which they prefer to their own implements. The fish-hooks they procure
from the Europeans are valued by them beyond measure, since they prevent
the necessity of their being constantly in the water, and you now see the
river, at the proper season, lined by black anglers, and the quantity of
fish they take is really astonishing, and those too of the finest kinds.
I once saw Mr. Scott secure a Murray cod, floating on the top of the
water, that weighed 72lbs. This beautiful and excellent fish is figured
in Mitchell's first work. It is a species of perch, and is very abundant,
as well as several others of its own genus, that are richer but smaller;
the general size of the cod varying from 15lbs. to 25lbs.
The manners and customs of the natives have been so well and so
faithfully recorded by Mr. Eyre that I need not dwell on them here. My
views have been philanthropic, my object, to explain the manner in which
I have succeeded in communicating with such of them as had never before
seen Europeans, in order to ensure to the explorer, if possible, the
peaceable results I myself have experienced. There are occasions when
collisions with the natives are unavoidable, but I speak as to general
intercourse. I feel assured no man can perform his duty as an explorer,
who is under constant apprehension of hostility from the people through
whose country he is passing.
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