FL661440

The various tribes have their allies & often
assist each other. On this account they some-
times require several weeks till they are all
prepared & meet. The day for the fight is usually
fixed upon some time before. They always cease fighting
[word crossed out] before or at sundown.
But their quarrels are not always settled
in this more open & honorable way [words crossed out]
Revenge too frequently leads them to act
by more clandestine & cowardly procedings. Revenge
is often carried on, tribe against
tribe, for years & the allied tribe becomes
implicated. The most innocent may thus
become the victim. For if there be a feud between
them, they care not whom they obtain from the
opposing tribe or tribes, as their victim. I may exemplify &
explain this by [words crossed out] relating to you a sad story of succesive
acts of retaliation
which happened within the last 10 or 12 years.
The Mudgee tribe & the Wellington tribe had been previously
allied on the one side & on the other the Castle-
reagh tribe & the Lower McQuarie tribe.
In consequence of an old grudge, one of the
Castlereagh tribe killed a Black of the Mudgee a [indecipherable]tribe somewhere
about Manduran, clandestinely. The victim
was a peaceable Black at the time in the service
of a settler. [Crossed out: This Black belonged to the
Mudgee or [indecipherable] tribe. In consequence

The various tribes have their allies & often
assist each other. On this account they some-
times require several weeks till they [indecipherable]
prepared to meet. The day for the fight is usually
fixed upon some time before. They always cease fighting
before or at sundown.

But their quarrels are not always settled
in this more open & [indecipherable] way.
Revenge too frequently leads them to act
by more clandestine & cowardly procedings. Revenge
is often carried on, tribe against
tribe, for years & the allied tribe becomes
implicated. The most innocent may thus
become the victim. For if there be a feud between
them, they care not whom they [indecipherable] from the
opposing tribe or tribes, as their victim. I may exemplify &
explain this by relating to you a sad story of succesive acts of retaliation
which happened within the last 10 or 12 years.
The charger tribe & the Wellington tribe had been previously
allied on the one side & on the other the Castle-
reagh tribe & the Lower McQuarie tribe.
In consequence of an old grudge, one of the
Castlereagh tribe killed a Black of the [indecipherable] a [indecipherable]tribe somewhere
about [indecipherable], clandestinely. The victim
was a peaceable Black at the time in the service of a settler. [Crossed out: This Black belonged to the
Mudgee or [indecipherable] tribe. In consequence