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[Page 184]

May [1883]

I suppose they were afraid we
should steal one. They made us
understand mostly by signs
that the 3 men to whom the gins
belonged & they stood where they
were, but the others turned
their backs as the gins came
up & did not look at them. I
suppose unmarried black men
are not allowed to speak to or
take any notice of gins, until
they themselves get one. The
gins when married are not
allowed to speak, they say
everything by signs. The men
& gins too are very
fine looking as far as
height and build go, but none
but one of the ones we saw
today were good looking. All
the afternoon Harry was
sleeping & I was lying down
reading. After tea Harry & I
went for a walk & then
4 of us went to the blacks'
camp again & saw 5 of them
corroborying ["corroboreeing"]. The rest had gone
away somewhere. We heard afterwards
that they had gone because they
thought I was a devil devil.