Page:History of Australia, Rusden 1897.djvu/598

The capture parties were discontinued. Robinson's salary was raised to £250, and a force was placed at his disposal. He forbade firearms, but some of his subordinates secretly carried them. With his native guides, amongst whom Truganina, the wife of Wooreddy, was conspicuous, he sought to parley and induce the wild blacks to join their captive countrymen. He met Enmarrah in the forest, and the chief, who was not to be won by the civilities of a Governor, rushed to his former captor and grasped his hand with fervour. A chief, Manalagana, was conspicuous for his noble qualities. In 1831 Robinson was able to report that he had received 123 submissions of natives, and bad communicated with many more. In the same year the Big River, or Ouse River, tribe yielded themselves not as prisoners, but as friends. There were but sixteen men, nine women, and a child among them; but they had been a terror to the land. They had been thought numerous, because, chased like wild beasts, the blows they struck were in various places. Their capture lad been one main object of the cordon in 1830. After numerous marches and traverses, in which he vainly sought the distrustful Tasmanians, Robinson came upon them in the mountainous region on the west coast. He had previously sent forward some native guides, but knew not whether they had found the natives, who did not fly from his small band. Their chief, Montpeliata, strode forward with his spear. His fifteen warriors shouted their war-cry, and were hardly restrained while he advanced. Robinson's companions thought themselves doomed. At first he himself could not see his friends, but on nearer approach he recognized them gladly. To Montpeliata's question he replied: "We are gentlemen. We have no guns; no pistols." One of the native guides in alarm took to flight. Montpeliata called him back, for he would not hurt him." The apparition of a white man not bent upon murder-a white man unarmed-bewildered the chieftain. Truganina, with some friends, had already made a circuit and joined the wild women. Montpeliata retired to discuss the situation with his friends. His comrades retained their warlike position. The assailing dogs were called off by the wild tribe, and silence reigned for a few anxious minutes. The signal of