Blacks of the Manning River District, New South Wales, 1851-1912 - Page 45

these stages all the way up the coast to the Tweed

I think that was about the last one that came

to the River, I never met a White who saw it danced

The "Cowbery" is a thing of the past now, there are

no natives to dan ce it = These "Coroberys" were the

only amusement I knew of them having = [The

Gunyas are made by first puting up a fork or two

and leaning a sheet or two of stringey bark striped

off the nearest tree = if they could not get a stringey

bark they used Teatree bark, and realy they were  

not uncomfortable places to pass the night = with

a sheet of bark put up to keep the wind off, a

small fire in front they were comfortable, the

white inside of the bark reflected the heat

of the fire down and with a blanket I have  

been better off that in a tent, & now decidedly

better off that in a hut full of B[?] and fleas

Once there was great excitement amongst the

Darkies, some of the young fellows had been up

the Little Dingo about the Big Run or about the

Ranges under Johnstons Peak = I don not know

for what reason but the old Blacks were very

shy of going up in that direction = They came

back with a strange tale = they had found

a camp = this they said was not like they

made their camps, and at it they found

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