THE BLACK FOREST.—KING BILLY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1894, 9 March 1888, Page 33

THE BLACK FOREST.— KING BILLY.

Gisborne, 36 miles from Melbourne, was one of those places through which all traffic passed at that time. It was embosomed in a valley with heavy bush far away on all sides, and a stream running through the flat. Long before this I found myself far in the rear with but one other of all our company, and the lot never gathered together again. I remember nothing more of the township than the Bush Inn, the reputation of which was anything but odorous. Beyond was the Black Forest of ill repute, wherein Black Douglas and his villainous gang carried on cruelties and murders for so long. Every shade and glen might cry out for the blood that has been shed and the infernal deeds committed there on wayfarers. We did not trouble the Bush Inn, but we found the approaches to the ford to be a vast, deep sea of mud all around. We struck off up stream to find a better crossing, and here we saw the first representative of the native blacks. He was certainly not handsome;— but straight as a dart, with bold assurance he came stalking up to us. Round his neck was a small brass chain from which hung a bronze or copper medal, bearing in Roman capitals the words " King Billy." His majesty's dress and accoutrements consisted of a very dirty blanket, a short black pipe, a long, thin, wooden spear, and a damaged belltopper. Though strongly inclined to laugh at "the noble savage," ■we eyed the relic on his head with much interest as the missing link between iris barbarism and our own civilisation. " Where do you live 7 " I innocently inquired, forgetting that the gentleman had no number or doorplate, and lived in no particular street. " Yah," was the answer, as he made a semicircular wave of the arm in the direction of the forest at his back. ''Bacca, or sic pence," was the contribution his majesty sought to levy upon us. He got neither. Weiaad not the one, and would not give him the other; and he stalked off in offended dignity to the mia-mias we then saw through the trees. We crossed the stream, climbed up the hill on the other side, and entered the forest on the afternoon of our third day. When in about three miles we saw a camp fire, and at once made for it, We found the

party to consist of two men, a woman, and an infant, a large tent, a well-appointed dray, with all necessaries for a long spell on the diggings. They had been four weeks on the road, and were compelled to stay there on account of the illness of the poor woman. The baby, a stout little fellow, was born in that dismal forest. As night gathered round us the gloom among the heavy timber became oppressive, and our eyes were wide open for unwelcome visitors. Our own tent was not yet fixed, and we readily accepted the invitation of the two men to share theirs. The wife and baby slept in the back part, the two men in the middle, and my chum and I were assigned just inside the door. The men seemed to have a good supply of firearms, and handed me a six-barrelled revolver with injunctions to fire at once if hand or foot came to the tent through the night. My own single-barrelled pistol was voted useless, and my gun I had parted with. But the revolver, and what we still possessed, made us feel strong and resolute. Nothing, however, visited us worse than a heavy squall from Mount Macedon, which clean stripped our part of the tent from tho poles, and left us exposed to a deluge of rain, which half drowned us. We lay under it all till morning, when the sun burst out strong, and enabled us, with some aid from a good log fire, to dry ourselves. Our forest friends were very kind, and we shook hands with them, half regretfully when we bade them good-bye, and pushed on late in the forenoon.