whole box was throwfi down and broken* had endeavoured to Ihel-
ter bimfelf in the magazine.
The agricultural hands were employed in breaking up ground
For maize in the vicinity o f Parramatta, and others were endeavouring
to prepare materials for a water-mill there.
The natives about this time excited a great deal o f intereft.
A young woman (nearly related to Ben-nil-long), who had re-
fided from her infancy in the fettlemenf, was molt inhumanly murdered
j and a native o f the Botany Bay diftriCt had driven a fpear
through the body o f the lad Nanbarrey. The name o f the good-
tempered_girl (for fuch Ihe was) was War-re-weer; but* to dif-
tinguilh her from others o f the fame name, an addition was
given to her in the fettlement from a perfonal defect that Ihe had.
Being blind of one eye, Ihe was called War-re-weer Wo-gul Mi,
the latter words fignifying one eye. The circumftance o f this girl’s
being killed, and Nanbarrey wounded, occafioned much violence
on the part o f their friends and relations, o f which number were
Cole-be and Ben-nil-long; the former o f whom, falling in with the
man who had wounded the boy, revenged his treatment o f him fo
fully that he died o f his wounds the following morning. Ben-nil-
long, in confequence o f this, was attacked, when alone, by two
men; when he defended himfelf with much addrefs, and would
have defied and foiled them both, had they kept fairly and openly in
his front; but one o f them, with the treachery common to thofe
favage people, contrived to ikulk behind, and throw a fpear into
his fide, the weapon penetrating feven inches into the cavity o f his
body, and, from its direction, being fuppofed to have Wounded the
inteftines. He was taken on board the Reliance, where at firft the
wound was attended with fome unfavourable fymptoms, nothing
remaining upon his ftomach.
Gaining every day fome further knowledge o f the inhuman habits
and cuftoms o f thefe people, their being fo thinly fcattered through
the country ceafed to be a matter o f furprife. It was almoft daily feen,
that
that from fome trifling caufe or other they were continually living
in a ftate o f warfare; to this muft be added their brutal treatment of
their Women, who are themfelves equally deftru&ive to the meafure
o f population, by the horrid and cruel cuftom o f endeavouring
to caufe a mifcarriage, Which their female acquaintance effeCt by
preffing the body in fuch a Way, as to deftroy the infant in the
womb; which violence not unfrequently occafions the death o f the
unnatural mother alfo. T o this they have recourfe, to avoid the
trouble o f carrying the infant about when born, which, when it is
Very young, or at the breaft, is the duty o f the woman. The
operation for this deftru&ive purpofe is termed Mee-bra. The
burying an infant (when at the breaft) with the mother % i f Ihe
ihould die, is another fhocking caufe o f the thinnefs o f papulation
among them. The faCt that fuch an operation as the Mee-
bra was praCtifed by thefe wretched people was communicated by
one o f the natives to the principal furgeon o f the fettlement.
The death o f the young man who was flain by Cole-be was tfo
be revenged, and a body o f the fouthern or Tag-a-ry natives gave
battle to thofe o f Sydney for that purpofe feveral days after. The
conteft was carried on with much defperation on both fides ; three
•natives were killed, and feveral others wounded, among whom
was Ben-nil-long, who, having perfectly recovered o f his late
dangerous wound, appeared and fought on this occafion as the
friend o f Cole-be.
The Weather in the laft month was remarked to be uncommonly
cold. In the latter part o f this it was exceffively fultry, and the
wind high, which fet many parts o f the country on fire, and de-
ftroyed fome property. The furveyor-general’s houfe, and every article
in it, was confumed by one o f thefe conflagrations.
September.] The Barwell being ready for fea, ihe dropped
down the harbour on the 12th, and failed the 17th o f this month
* See'Vol. I . p. 607.
for