( 133 ) I cannot close these five days in the bush without a few remarks that are worth not to be forgotten. What I had hoped for from this trip, namely a closer acquaintance with the way of life and language of the natives, has been more than confirmed. The progress in language does not consist so much in a multitude of new words, but rather in the acquisition and more fluent use of those already known, as well as in the discovery of a "modus conju[n]ctivus", which is formed by adding the small syllable "ma" to the stem of the verb and is used very regularly in cases where we use the subjunctive of the most recent and long past times. --

Next, I was very amazed and happy about the decency and discipline among the completely free and equal natives, and especially about the obedience of the young men towards the men.

But I hope that not only me did benefit from this bush life, but that it was also of some use to some of the natives. Although I confess with shame and bow before the all-seeing eye of the Lord that I have not always used and maintained the right caution and serious dignity, which was of course no easy task given the prevailing circumstances and the prescience of the natives, I am nevertheless convinced that in one or the other the foundation has been laid for awakening the sleeping conscience, as was evident from the seriousness and questions with which they responded to my ( 134 ) clumsy, weak descriptions of the eternal life and eternal retribution; For example, they asked where their relatives were now, upstairs in God's dwelling, or down in the fire pit, I replied that if they were good, then they were in the former, if bad, [then] in the latter. It was not uncommon for my words to be followed by a short conversation between themselves, which I did not understand; but from their expressions and tone I could tell that they were sympathetic and applauded. May the Lord in mercy bless the people and individual seeds that are now beginning to be sown in this raw field and curb the native and foreign weeds.

September 15th, 1839. Sunday.
This afternoon I visited my dear Bertha, who, knowing nothing about my trip, naturally could not explain my long absence; and her father had said he didn't know why I wasn't coming. There were a lot of guests at Mr. Fiedler and therefore little opportunity for conversation between me and Bertha until we got some ourselves on the backyard. Among Bertha's statements, the question that struck me as proof of her real love was how long would I stay here in Adelaide? Later, speaking about our future, she told me that she might not be able to be free as soon as I would like, since she could not possibly leave her father in his present situation. I took the opportunity ( 135 ) to pull her out of a delusion in which she might want to be by replying, I feared that the time would be even longer for her than it was for me because of my financial situation. She believes that too, but she was never used to seeing money as the greatest thing and satisfaction replaces many things. Me: Since we're both still young, we wouldn't be in a hurry, especially if she feels as calm and happy as I do now. She is happy and it should be