He says, when we were at Eikiri, a few weeks ago, he knew
it, and told the people of his village of it.
The wallaby-hunters are to come in this afternoon with great supplies.
When sitting round the fire with our old chief, we asked him if he knew
of any tailed folks about inland. "Oh dear, yes." And then he gave us a
perfect and laughable description of what must be some creature of the
monkey tribe. It climbs, laughs, and talks a peculiar language of its
own; it scratches the head, slaps the thigh, and sits down to eat like a
man. I then said, "But they are not really men?" "Well, not exactly,
but very near it; they are hairy all over, and some are perfectly black."
The tail, according to his description, must be about a fathom long. We
are to see them, and must, he says, secure one or two, dead or alive. Our
spirit is out in his prognostications, the wallaby-hunters have not
returned, and we cannot leave to-morrow.
21_st_.--Our spirit friend is quite out as yet, for here we are nursing
Patience, and trying to make her a dear friend.
Pages:
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157