The History of Tasmania, Volume II | Page 8

to trace the causes which led to that
long and disastrous conflict, in which so many lives were sacrificed,
and a people, all but a fading fragment, became extinct. Among those
mentioned by the government, was the admission into the colony of
Sydney blacks, and the ascendancy which one of them acquired.
The emigrants of 1822 remember a number of natives, who roamed
about the district, and were known as the "tame mob;" they were
absconders from different tribes, and separated from their chiefs. They
often entered the town and obtained bread, tobacco, and even rum from
the inhabitants. Their importunity was troublesome, and their
appearance offensive: the eruptive disease which covered their skin,
especially on the legs, most exposed to the heat of their fires, added to
their squalor and wretchedness. They are thus described by the Rev. Mr.
Horton: he saw them at Pittwater, crouching round their fires, and
entirely naked--a company of demoralised savages.
Musquito became their head. He was transported from Sydney to this
colony for the murder of a woman. For some time he acted as a
stock-keeper; he was then employed as a guide, in tracking the
bushrangers, having the keenness of vision, and almost canine instinct,
by which in the slightest traces he discovered a certain clue. For this
service, it is said, he was promised restoration to his country--a promise,
unhappily, forgotten. He was odious to the prisoners, who taunted him
as a nose for the hangman; his resentful nature could not brook the
insult, and he struck down a convict who thus reviled him. He was then
taken into custody; in alarm, he escaped to the bush. The muscular

strength and superior skill of this man were supposed to have
recommended him to the natives as their chief. He was seen, by
Robertson, to cut off the head of a pigeon with a stick, while flying.
Musquito answered Mr. Horton with intelligence, when that gentleman
represented the misery of a vagrant life; he said that he should prefer to
live like the white man, tilling the ground, but that none of his
companions would join him. Before he united with the natives, he was
accustomed to pursue them with all the virulence of a savage. In
company with a convict servant he would face the darkness, and go out
"to storm the huts" he had seen in the day. On one such occasion, in
spite of prohibitions, he set out at night; but the natives had observed
him, and decamped, leaving behind them large fires to deceive their
enemy. Returning at midnight, he was mistaken for a Tasmanian black;
and, but for discovery at the moment, would have suffered the fate he
deserved.
It was said by Mr. G. Robertson, that the first murders of Musquito
were committed in self defence. He associated with the Oyster Bay
tribe, and his power over them was great: he even prevailed on them to
perform some rude agricultural labor. He had high notions of his own
worth: he would stalk into the cottages of the settlers, seat himself with
great dignity: his followers, to the number of one or two hundred,
patiently awaiting his signal to approach.
As the influence of Musquito enlarged, it became more pernicious. He
not only misled his immediate followers, but propagated his spirit.
Deeds of great enormity were committed at his direction; several by his
own hand. He drew a man from his house at Pittwater, by the cooey,
and then speared him to death. A servant of Mr. Cassidy, and another
of Mr. Evans, met a similar fate. In concert with Tom, a Tasmanian
black, he became a terror to the colony. Their parties moved in large
bodies, and acted under a common impulse. In carrying on their
depredations, their tactics aimed at military unity and skill. A party of
sixty appeared before the premises of Mr. Hobbs, at the Eastern
Marshes (1824): they watched the servants deliver their fire, and before
they could reload their muskets, they rushed upon them, and by weight
of numbers drove them off the ground. A few days after, the natives

again appeared: a small party came forward first, and reconnoitred;
then returning to a hill, they made signals to a body of a hundred and
fifty, in an opposite direction. Both divisions bore down on the
establishment. The English were now well armed, and maintained the
post for five hours; but escaped when they saw the natives prepare to
surround the dwelling with fire. Overcome with terror, for several days
they refused to return, and the property was left to its fate. Mr. Hobbs
was specially unfortunate: his house lay in the track, both of the natives
and bushrangers, and thrice in one season his premises were pillaged.
The arrest of Musquito became