tives, and in order to preserve harmony, I cut the blankets up into several pieces, dividing them as I best could. This done, we returned to the wrecked boat, which they had evidently seen or known about before; indeed they soon told me, that a few days previous, two white men had wandered from the beach into the bush where these natives were, who received them kindly. The poor fellows were dreadfully bruised and cold—in fact, perishing from exposure, thirst, and hunger. They pointed in the direction where I had found the boat, as if trying to make the tribe understand that some accident had happened, looking at the same time very sad and disconsolate. Being well fed on fish and kangaroo, after some days they recovered their strength; the natives then tried to make them understand there was a white man—meaning myself—amongst them, and that they would go in search of me; but the poor fellows could not be made to comprehend their meaning, and went away by themselves toward the Yawang Plains.
There is no doubt but they were part of the people cast ashore in the boat. Some months after I heard that the same two men, who had been so kindly treated, were savagely murdered, whilst crossing the Yarra River, by a tribe called the Wairwaioo. I grieved very much at this melancholy event, for had I arrived in time no doubt their lives would have been preserved; and on the circumstance I reflected very seriously, expressing my heartfelt thanks to the great Creator of my being, for having brought me unharmed through so many dangers.
