I however felt just as well after we had been subjected to this dire sorcery as I did before; and we continued to pull gently along the shore, still trying to induce them to approach, which they at last did, having nothing but a fishing-spear in their hands.

To entice them towards us I had made Kaiber strip himself and stand up in the boat; and now that they were near enough to us I told him to call out to them and say that we were friends.
He hereupon shouted out, "Come in, come in; Mr.Grey sulky yu-a-da;" by which he intended to say, "Come here, come here; Mr.Grey is not angry with you." The two sorcerers, utterly confused by this mode of address, committed more overt acts of witchcraft towards us than they had even hitherto done; and Kaiber, turning round to me, said, "Weak ears have they and wooden foreheads; they do not understand the southern language." But as I was dissatisfied with his proof of their knowledge of the southern language I desired him to wade ashore and speak to them.
KAIBER'S DREAD OF THEM.
This order of mine was a perfect thunderbolt to Kaiber.

He, in common with all the aboriginal inhabitants of Australia, had an utter aversion to all strange natives; and to this he joined a sort of religious horror of witches, buck-witches, warlocks, and uncanny persons generally.

King James the First could never have found a more zealous and participating partner of his fears than Kaiber; he gave me a blank look of horror and assured me that these were actual sorcerers, "northern sorcerers;" and as he repeated these last words there was a mysterious, deep meaning in his tone, as if he expected to see me thrill with terror.
From his earliest infancy he had been accustomed to dread these men; every storm that occurred he had been taught to consider as arising from their incantations: if one of his friends or relatives died a natural death he had attributed that death to the spells and unholy practices of these very people with whom he was now directed to go and hold converse.
I thought of all this and pitied him; for even for a native he was excessively superstitious.

But I was extremely anxious to establish friendly relations with them; therefore I was positive and repeated to him my former directions that he should wade ashore, coax them up, and speak to them.
In as far as a native can turn white from fear Kaiber did turn white, and then stepping into the water he waded ashore and the two natives cautiously approached him.