The knife which was intended as a peace-offering, seems to have scared them away in almost as much haste as if we had been at their heels.

There can be no doubt but that they took it for an evil spirit, at which they were, perhaps, more alarmed than at our uncouth appearance.

Be that as it may, we departed from the creek without seeing anything of these poor people.
At a little distance from the creek to the N.W., upon a rising piece of ground, and certainly above the reach of floods, there were seven or eight huts, very different in shape and substance from any we had seen.
They were made of strong boughs fixed in a circle in the ground, so as to meet in a common centre; on these there was, as in some other huts I have had occasion to describe, a thick seam of grass and leaves, and over this again a compact coating of clay.

They were from eight to ten feet in diameter, and about four and a half feet high, the opening into them not being larger than to allow a man to creep in.

These huts also faced the north-west, and each had a smaller one attached to it as shewn in the sketch.