Journals of Expeditions of Discovery into Central Australia and Overland from Adelaide to King George's Sound in the Years 1840-1: Sent By the Colonists of South Australia, with the Sanction and Support of the Government: Including an Account of the Manners and Customs of the Aborigines and the State of Their Relations with Europeans — Complete

by Edward John Eyre

Chapter XIII.

FUTURE PLANS—REDUCE THE NUMBER OF THE PARTY—SEND THE CUTTER TO ADELAIDE—REPORT TO THE GOVERNOR—MONOTONOUS LIFE AT CAMP—REMOVE TO ANOTHER LOCALITY—GEOLOGICAL CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY—FLINT FOUND—AGAIN ATTEMPT TO REACH THE HEAD OF THE BIGHT—REACH THE SAND HILLS, AND BURY FLOUR—FRIENDLY NATIVES—EXHAUSTED STATE OF THE HORSES—GET THE DRAY TO THE PLAIN—BURY WATER—SEND BACK DRAY—PROCEED WITH PACK-HORSE—OPPRESSIVE HEAT—SEND BACK PACK-HORSE—REACH THE HEAD OF THE BIGHT—SURPRISE SOME NATIVES—THEIR KIND BEHAVIOUR—YEER-KUMBAN KAUEE—THEIR ACCOUNT OF THE INTERIOR.

December 17.—HAVING now maturely considered the serious position I was in, the difficult nature of the country, the reduced condition and diminished number of my horses, and the very unfavourable season of the year, I decided upon taking advantage of a considerate clause in the Governor's letter, authorizing me "to send back the WATERWITCH to Adelaide for assistance, if required."

From the experience I had already had, and from the knowledge I had thus acquired of the character of the country to the westward and to the north, it was evident that I could never hope to take my whole party, small as it was, with me in either direction. I had already lost three horses in an attempt to get round the head of the Bight, and I had also found that my three best horses now remaining, when strong and fresh after a long period of rest at the depot, had with difficulty been able to move along with an empty dray in the heavy sandy country to the north-west; how could I expect, then, to take drays when loaded with provisions and other stores? Hitherto we had enjoyed the assistance of the cutter in passing up the coast—by putting all our heavy baggage on board of her, the drays were comparatively empty, and we had got on tolerably well. We could no longer, however, avail ourselves of this valuable aid, for we were now past all harbours. Fowler's Bay being the last place of refuge where a vessel could take shelter for many hundred miles, whilst the fearful nature of the coast and the strong current setting into the Bight, made it very dangerous for a vessel to approach the land at all. Upon leaving Fowler's Bay, therefore, it was evident that we must be dependent entirely upon our own resources; and it became necessary for me to weigh well and maturely how I might best arrange my plans so as to meet the necessity of the case. It appeared to me that if I sent two of my men back to Adelaide in the WATERWITCH, a single dray would carry every necessary for the reduced party remaining, and that by obtaining a supply of oats and bran for the horses, and giving them a long rest, they might so far recover strength and spirits as to afford me reasonable grounds of hope that we might succeed in forcing a passage through the country to the westward, bad as it evidently was. Acting upon the opinion I had arrived at, I sent for the master of the cutter and requested him to get ready at once for sea, and then communicated my decision to the two men who were to leave us, Corporal Coles, R.S. and M. and John Houston, requesting them to get ready to embark to-morrow. They did not appear to experience much surprise, and were I think on the whole rather pleased than otherwise at the prospect of a return to Adelaide. Both these men had conducted themselves remarkably well during the whole time they were in the party, and one of them, John Houston, had been with me in my late disastrous expedition, during which his obedience and good conduct had been beyond all praise. We had, however, now been absent for six months, had traversed a great extent of country, and undergone many hardships; the country we had met with had unfortunately always been of the most barren and disheartening character, and that which was yet before us appeared to be if possible still worse, so that I could not wonder that my men should appear gratified in the prospect of a termination to their labours. With so little to cheer and encourage, they might well perhaps doubt of our final success.

December 18.—Having once decided upon my plans, I lost no time in putting them in execution. A dray, three sets of horses' harness, and some other things were sent on board the WATERWITCH, together with half a sheep and sixty pounds of biscuit for the crew, who were now running short of provisions. Several casks were brought on shore for us to bury stores in, and the boat I had purchased at Port Lincoln was left, at Mr. Scott's request, for him to fish in during the absence of the cutter. After I had settled with the two men for their services, both of whom had large sums to receive, they took leave of us, and went on board.

My own time had been fully occupied for the last two days, in writing letters and preparing despatches; by great exertions I got all ready this evening, and upon Mr. Germain's coming up at night, I delivered them to him, and directed him to sail as soon as possible. The following copy of my despatch to his Excellency the Governor, will convey a brief summary of the result of the expedition; from the time of our leaving Port Lincoln up to the sailing of the WATERWITCH from Fowler's Bay, and of the future plans I intended to adopt, to carry out the object of the undertaking.

"POINT FOWLER, 17TH DECEMBER, 1840.

"SIR,—By the return of the WATERWITCH, I have the honour to furnish you, for the information of His Excellency the Governor, with a brief account of our proceedings up to the present date.

"Upon the return of Mr. Scott from Adelaide to Port Lincoln, I left the latter place on the 24th October, following my former line of route along the coast to Streaky Bay, and rejoining my party there on the 3rd November.

"The WATERWITCH had already arrived with the stores sent for the use of the expedition, and I have since detained her to co-operate with my party, in accordance with the kind permission of his Excellency the Governor.

"From previous experience, I was aware, that after leaving Streaky Bay, we should have obstacles of no ordinary kind to contend with; and as I advanced, I found the difficulties of the undertaking even greater than I had anticipated; the heavy sandy nature of the country, its arid character, the scarcity of grass, and the very dense brushes through which we had frequently to clear a road with our axes, formed impediments of no trifling description, and such as, when combined with the very unfavourable season of the year, we could hardly have overcome without the assistance of the WATERWITCH. By putting on board the cutter the greater part of our dead weight, we relieved our jaded horses from loads they could no longer draw; and by obtaining from her occasional supplies of water at such points of the coast as we could procure none on shore, we were enabled to reach Fowler's Bay on the 22nd November.

"From this point I could no longer avail myself of the valuable services of the cutter, the wild unprotected character of the coast extending around the Great Australian Bight, rendering it too dangerous for a vessel to attempt to approach so fearful a shore, and where there is no harbour or shelter of any kind to make for in case of need.

"Under these circumstances, I left my party in camp behind Point Fowler, whilst I proceeded myself, accompanied by a native boy, to examine the country a-head, and I now only detained the WATERWITCH, in the hopes that by penetrating on horseback beyond the head of the Great Bight, I might be able to give his Excellency some idea of our future prospects.

"For the last twenty-four days I have been engaged in attempting to round the head of the Bight; but so difficult is the country, that I have not as yet been able to accomplish it. In my first essay I was driven back by the want of water and obliged to abandon one of my horses. This animal I subsequently recovered.

"In my second attempt, I went, accompanied by one of my native boys, and a man driving a dray loaded solely with water and our provisions; but such was the dreadful nature of the country, that after penetrating to within twelve miles of the head of the Bight, I was again obliged to abandon three of our horses, a dray, and our provisions. The poor horses were so exhausted by previous fatigue and privation, that they could not return, and I was most reluctantly obliged to leave them to obtain relief for ourselves, and the two remaining horses we had with us. After reaching the nearest water, we made every effort to save the unfortunate animals we had left behind; and for seven days, myself, the man, and a boy, were incessantly and laboriously engaged almost day and night in carrying water backwards and forwards to them—feeding them with bread, gruel, etc. I regret to say that all our efforts were in vain, and that the expedition has sustained a fatal and irreparable injury in the loss of three of its best draught horses. The dray and the provisions I subsequently recovered, and on the evening of the 15th December, I rejoined my party behind Point Fowler, to prepare despatches for the WATERWITCH, since the weak and unserviceable condition of nearly the whole of our remaining horses rendered any further attempt to penetrate so inhospitable a region quite impracticable for the present. In traversing the country along the coast from Streaky Bay to the limits of our present exploration, within twelve miles of the head of the Great Bight, we have found the country of a very uniform description—low flat lands, or a succession of sandy ridges, densely covered with a brush of EUCALYPTUS DUMOSA, salt water tea-tree, and other shrubs—whilst here and there appear a few isolated patches of open grassy plains, scattered at intervals among the scrub. The surface rock is invariably an oolitic limestone, mixed with an imperfect freestone, and in some places exhibits fossil banks, which bear evident marks of being of a very recent formation.

"The whole of this extent of country is totally destitute of surface water—we have never met with a watercourse, or pool of any description, and all the water we have obtained since we left Streaky Bay has been by digging, generally in the large drifts of pure white sand close to the coast. This is a work frequently of much time and labour, as from the depth we have had to sink, and the looseness of the sand, the hole has often filled nearly as fast as we could clear it out; the water too thus obtained has almost always been brackish, occasionally salt. Latterly even this resource has failed us; after digging a few feet we have been impeded by rock, which gradually approaching nearer the surface towards the head of the Great Bight, at last occupies its whole extent, unless where partially concealed by sand-drifts, or low sandy ridges covered with brush. We have seen no trees or timber of any kind of larger growth than the scrub, nor have we met with the Casuarinae since we left Streaky Bay.

"The natives along this coast are not very numerous; those we have met with have been timid, but friendly, and in some instances have rendered us important assistance in guiding us through the brush, and shewing us where to dig for water—their language appears to be a good deal similar to that at King George's Sound. When questioned about the interior towards the north, they invariably assert that there is no fresh water inland; nor could we discover that they are acquainted with the existence of a large body of water of any kind in that direction.

"Hitherto the reduced condition of my horses, the nature of the country, and the season of the year, have effectually prevented my examining the interior beyond a very few miles from the coast. When we have once rounded the Bight (and I confidently hope to accomplish this), the country may perhaps alter its character so far as to enable me to prosecute the main object of the expedition, that of examining the Northern Interior. Should such unfortunately not be the case, I shall endeavour to examine the line of coast as far as practicable towards King George's Sound, occasionally radiating inland whenever circumstances may admit of it.

"The very severe loss the expedition has sustained in the death of four of its best horses since leaving Adelaide in June last, added to the unfavourable season of the year, and the embarrassing nature of the country, have rendered it impossible for me to carry provisions for the whole party for a length of time sufficient to enable me to prosecute the undertaking I am engaged in with any prospect of success; whilst the wild and fearful nature of this breaker-beaten coast wholly precludes me from making use of the assistance and co-operation of the WATERWITCH. I have consequently been under the necessity of reducing the strength of my already small party, and have sent two men back in the cutter; retaining only my overseer and one man, exclusive of Mr. Scott and two native boys. Upon leaving the depot at Fowler's Bay, it is my intention to proceed with only a single dray to carry our provisions, instead of (as formerly) with two drays and a cart.

"From the reduced state of our horses, it will be absolutely necessary for us to remain in depot five or six weeks to rest them. Such, however, is the dry and withered state of the little grass we have, and so destitute is it of all nutritive qualities, that I much fear that even at the expiration of this long respite from their labours, our horses will not have improved much in strength or condition. I have therefore unhesitatingly taken advantage of the very kind permission of his Excellency the Governor, to request that a supply of oats and bran may be sent to us, should his Excellency not require the services of the WATERWITCH for more important employment. For ourselves we require no additional provisions, the most liberal and abundant supply we formerly received being fully sufficient to last us for six months longer.

"I have much pleasure in recording the continued steadiness and good conduct of my men, and I regret extremely the necessity which has compelled me to dispense with the services of two of them before the termination of the expedition, and after they have taken so considerable a share in its labours.

"I have the honor to be, Sir,
"Your very obedient servant,
"EDW. JOHN EYRE.

"TO GEO. HALL, ESQ., PRIVATE SECRETARY, ETC."

After the departure of the cutter, our mode of life was for some time very monotonous, and our camp bore a gloomy and melancholy aspect; the loss of two men from our little band, made a sad alteration in its former cheerful character. Mr. Scott usually employed himself in shooting or fishing; one of the native boys was always out shepherding the sheep, and the only remaining man I had was occupied in attending to the horses, so that there were generally left only myself, the overseer, and one native boy at the camp, which was desolate and gloomy, as a deserted village. The overseer was pretty well employed, in making boots for the party, in shoeing the horses, repairing the harness, and in doing other little odd jobs of a similar kind; the black boys took their turns in shepherding the sheep; but I was without active employment, and felt more strongly than any of them that relaxation of body and depression of spirits, which inactivity ever produces.

For a time indeed, the writing up of my journals, the filling up my charts, and superintending the arranging, packing, and burying of our surplus stores, amused and occupied me, but as these were soon over, I began to repine and fret at the life of indolence and inactivity. I was doomed to suffer. Frequently required at the camp, to give directions about, or to assist in the daily routine of duty, I did not like to absent myself long away at once; there were no objects of interest near me, within the limits of a day's excursion on foot, and the weak state of the horses, prevented me from making any examinations of the country at a greater distance on horseback; I felt like a prisoner condemned to drag out a dull and useless existence through a given number of days or weeks, and like him too, I sighed for freedom, and looked forward with impatience, to the time when I might again enter upon more active and congenial pursuits. Fatigue, privation, disappointment, disasters, and all the various vicissitudes, incidental to a life of active exploration had occasionally, it is true, been the source of great anxiety or annoyance, but all were preferable to that oppressive feeling of listless apathy, of discontent and dissatisfaction, which resulted from the life I was now obliged to lead.

Christmas day came, and made a slight though temporary break in the daily monotony of our life. The kindness of our friends had supplied us with many luxuries; and we were enabled even in the wilds, to participate in the fare of the season: whilst the season itself, and the circumstances under which it was ushered in to us, called forth feelings and associations connected with other scenes and with friends, who were far away; awakening, for a time at least, a train of happier thoughts and kindlier feelings than we had for a long time experienced.

On the 26th, I found that our horses and sheep were falling off so much in condition, from the scarcity of grass, and its dry and sapless quality, that it became absolutely necessary for us to remove elsewhere; I had already had all our surplus stores and baggage headed up in casks, or packed in cases, and carefully buried (previously covered over with a tarpaulin and with bushes to keep them from damp), near the sand-hills, and to-day I moved on the party for five miles to the well in the plains; the grass here was very abundant, but still dry, and without much nourishment; the water was plentiful, but brackish and awkward to get at, being through a hole in a solid sheet of limestone, similar to that behind Point Brown. Upon cleaning it out and deepening it a little, it tasted even worse than before, but still we were thankful for it.

The geological character of the country was exactly similar to that we had been in so long, entirely of fossil formation, with a calcareous oolitic limestone forming the upper crusts, and though this was occasionally concealed by sand on the surface, we always were stopped by it in digging; it was seemingly a very recent deposit, full of marine shells, in every stage of petrifaction. Granite we had not seen for some time, though I have no doubt that it occasionally protrudes; a small piece, found near an encampment of the natives, and evidently brought there by them, clearly proved the existence of this rock at no very great distance, probably small elevations of granite may occasionally be found among the scrubs, similar to those we had so frequently met with in the same character of country. Another substance found at one of the native encampments, and more interesting to us, not having been before met with, was a piece of pure flint, of exactly the same character as the best gun flint. This probably had been brought from the neighbourhood of the Great Bight, in the cliffs of which Captain Flinders imagined he saw chalk, and where I hoped that some change in the geological formation of the country would lead to an improvement in its general appearance and character.

The weather had been (with the exception of one or two hot days) unusually cold and favourable for the time of year. Our horses had enjoyed a long rest, and though the dry state of the grass had prevented them from recovering their condition, I hoped they were stronger and in better spirits, and determined to make one more effort to get round the head of the Bight;—if unsuccessful this time, I knew it would be final, as I should no longer have the means of making any future trial, for I fully made up my mind to take all our best and strongest animals, and either succeed in the attempt or lose all.

On the 29th, I commenced making preparations, and on the following day left the camp, the sheep, and four horses in charge of Mr. Scott and the youngest of the native boys, whilst I proceeded myself, accompanied by the overseer and eldest native boy on horseback, and a man driving a dray with three horses, to cross once more through the scrub to the westward. We took with us three bags of flour, a number of empty casks and kegs, and two pack-saddles, besides spades and buckets, and such other minor articles as were likely to be required. It was late in the day when we arrived at the plains under the sand hills; and though we had brought our six best and strongest horses, they were greatly fagged with their day's work. We had still to take them some distance to the water, and back again to the grass. At the water we found traces of a great many natives who appeared to have left only in the morning, and who could not be very far away; none were however seen.

December 31.—We remained in camp to rest the horses, and took the opportunity of carrying up all the water we could, every time the animals went backwards and forwards, to a large cask which had been fixed on the dray. The taste of the water was much worse than when we had been here before, being both salter and more bitter; this, probably, might arise from the well having been dug too deep, or from the tide having been higher than usual, though I did not notice that such had been the case. In the afternoon we buried the three bags of flour we had brought headed up in a cask.

January 1, 1841.—This morning I went down with the men to assist in watering the horses, and upon returning to the camp, found my black boy familiarly seated among a party of natives who had come up during our absence. Two of them were natives I had seen to the north-west, and had been among the party whose presence at the plains, on the 5th of December, when I was surrounded by so many difficulties, had proved so annoying to us at the time, and so fatal in its consequences to our horses. They recognised me at once, and apparently described to the other natives, the circumstances under which they had met me, lamenting most pathetically the death of the horses; the dead bodies of which they had probably seen in their route to the water. Upon examining their weapons they shewed us several that were headed with flint, telling us that they procured it to the north-west, thus confirming my previous conjectures as to the existence of flint in that direction. To our inquiries about water, they still persisted that there was none inland, and that it took them five days, from where we were, to travel to that at the head of the Bight. No other, they said, existed in any direction near us, except a small hole to the north-west, among some sand hills, about two miles off; these they pointed out, and offered to go with me and shew me the place where the water was. I accepted the offer, and proceeded to the sand-drifts, accompanied by one of them. On our arrival he shewed me the remains of a large deep hole that had been dug in one of the sandy flats; but in which the water was now inaccessible, from the great quantity of sand that had drifted in and choked it up. By forcing a spear down to a considerable depth, the native brought it out moist, and shewed it me to prove that he had not been deceiving me. I now returned to the camp, more than ever disposed to credit what I had been told relative to the interior. I had never found the natives attempt to hide from us any waters that they knew of, on the contrary, they had always been eager and ready to point them out, frequently accompanying us for miles, through the heat and amongst scrub, to shew us where they were. I had, therefore, no reason to doubt the accuracy of their statements when they informed me that there was none inland! Many different natives, and at considerable intervals of country apart, had all united in the same statement, and as far as I had yet been able to examine so arid a country personally, my own observations tended to confirm the truth of what they had told me.

In the evening several of the natives went down with the men to water the horses, and when there drank a quantity of water that was absolutely incredible, each man taking from three to four quarts, and this in addition to what they got at the camp during the earlier part of the day. Strange that a people who appear to do with so little water, when traversing the deserts, should use it in such excess when the opportunity of indulgence occurs to them, yet such have I frequently observed to be the case, and especially on those occasions where they have least food. It would seem that, accustomed generally to have the stomach distended after meals, they endeavour to produce this effect with water, when deprived of the opportunity of doing so with more solid substances. At night the natives all encamped with us in the plain.

January 2.—Having watered the horses early, we left the encampment, accompanied by some of the natives, to push once more to the north-west. On the dray we had eighty-five gallons of water; but as we had left all our flour, and some other articles, I hoped we should get on well. The heavy nature of the road, however, again told severely upon the horses: twice we had to unload the dray, and at last, after travelling only fourteen miles, the horses could go no further; I was obliged, therefore, to come to a halt, and decide what was best to be done. There appeared to be a disastrous fatality attending all our movements in this wretched region, which was quite inexplicable. Every time that we had attempted to force a passage through it, we had been baffled and driven back. Twice I had been obliged to abandon our horses before; and on the last of these occasions had incurred a loss of the three best of them; now, after giving them a long period of rest, and respite from labour, and after taking every precaution which prudence or experience could suggest, I had the mortification of finding that we were in the same predicament we had been in before, and with as little prospect of accomplishing our object. Having but little time for deliberation, I at once ordered the overseer and man to take the horses back to the water, and give them two days rest there, and then to rejoin us again on the third, whilst I and the native boy would remain with the dray, until their return. The natives also remained with us for the first night; but finding we still continued in camp, they left on the following morning, which I was sorry for, as I hoped one would have been induced to go with us to the Great Bight.

On the fifth of January, the overseer and man returned with the horses; but so little had they benefited by their two days rest, that upon being yoked up, and put to the dray, they would not move it. We were obliged, therefore, to unload once more, and lighten the load by burying a cask of water, and giving another to the horses. After this, we succeeded in getting them along, with the remainder, to the undulating plains; and here we halted for the night, after a stage of only seven miles, but one, which, short as it was, had nearly worn out the draught horses. Here we dug a large hole, and buried twenty-two gallons of water, for my own horse, and that of the black boy, on our return; and as I determined to take a man with me, with a pack-horse, nine gallons more were buried apart from the other, for them, so that when the man got his cask of water, he might not disturb ours, or leave traces by which the natives could discover it.

January 6.—Sending back the dray with the overseer, at the first dawn of day, I and the native boy proceeded to the north-west, accompanied by the man leading a pack-horse with twelve gallons of water. The day turned out hot, and the road was over a very heavy sandy country; but by eleven o'clock we had accomplished a distance of seventeen miles, and had reached the furthest point from which I turned back on the 1st December. I walked alternately with the boy, so as not to oppress the riding horses, but the man walked all the way.

The weather was most intensely hot, a strong wind blowing from the north-east, throwing upon us an oppressive and scorching current of heated air, like the hot blast of a furnace. There was no misunderstanding the nature of the country from which such a wind came; often as I had been annoyed by the heat, I had never experienced any thing like it before. Had anything been wanting to confirm my previous opinion of the arid and desert character of the great mass of the interior of Australia, this wind would have been quite sufficient for that purpose. From those who differ from me in opinion (and some there are who do so whose intelligence and judgment entitle their opinion to great respect), I would ask, could such a wind be be wafted over an inland sea? or could it have passed over the supposed high, and perhaps snowcapped mountains of the interior.

We were all now suffering greatly from the heat; the man who was with me was quite exhausted: under the annoyances of the moment, his spirits failed him, and giving way to his feelings of fatigue and thirst, he lay rolling on the ground, and groaning in despair; all my efforts to rouse him were for a long time in vain, and I could not even induce him to get up to boil a little tea for himself. We had halted about eleven in the midst of a low sandy flat, not far from the sea, thinking, that by a careful examination, we might find a place where water could be procured by digging. There were, however, no trees or bushes near us; and the heat of the sun, and the glare of the sand, were so intolerable, that I was obliged to get up the horses, and compel the man to go on a little further to seek for shelter.

Proceeding one mile towards the sea, we came to a projecting rock upon its shores; and as there was no hope of a better place being found, I tied up my horses near it; the rock was not large enough to protect them entirely from the sun, but by standing close under it, their heads and necks were tolerably shaded. For ourselves, a recess of the rock afforded a delightful retreat, whilst the immediate vicinity of the sea enabled us every now and then to take a run, and plunge amidst its breakers, and again return to the shelter of the cavern. For two or three hours we remained in, under the protection of the rock, without clothes, and occasionally bathing to cool ourselves. The native boy and I derived great advantage from thus dipping in the sea, but it was a long time before I could induce the man to follow our example, either by persuasion or threats; his courage had failed him, and he lay moaning like a child. At last I succeeded in getting him to strip and bathe, and he at once found the benefit of it, becoming in a short time comparatively cool and comfortable. We then each had a little more tea, and afterwards attempted to dig for water among the sand-hills. The sand, however, was so loose, that it ran in faster than we could throw it out, and we were obliged to give up the attempt.

As the afternoon was far advanced, we saddled the horses, and pushed on again for five miles, hoping, but in vain, to find a little grass. At night we halted among the sandy ridges behind the seashore, and after giving the horses four quarts of oats and a bucket of water a-piece, we were obliged to tie them up, there not being a blade of grass anywhere about. The wind at night changed to the south-west, and was very cold, chilling us almost as much as the previous heat had oppressed us. These sudden and excessive changes in temperature induce great susceptibility in the system, and expose the traveller to frequent heats and chills that cannot be otherwise than injurious to the constitution.

January 7.—Having concealed some water, provisions, and the pack-saddle at the camp, I sent the man back with the pack-horse to encamp at the undulating plains, where nine gallons of water had been left for him and his horse, and the following day he was to rejoin the overseer at the sand hills.

To the latter I sent a note, requesting him to send two fresh horses to meet me at the plains on the 15th of January, for, from the weak condition of the animals we had with us, and from the almost total absence of grass for them, I could not but dread lest we might be obliged to abandon them too, and in this case, if we did not succeed in finding water, we should perhaps have great difficulty in returning ourselves.

As soon as the man was gone, we once more moved on to the north-west, through the same barren region of heavy sandy ridges, entirely destitute of grass or timber. After travelling through this for ten miles, we came upon a native pathway, and following it under the hummocks of the coast for eight miles, lost it at some bare sand-drifts, close to the head of the Great Bight, where we had at last arrived, after our many former ineffectual attempts.

Following the general direction the native pathway had taken, we ascended the sand-drifts, and finding the recent tracks of natives, we followed them from one sand-hill to another, until we suddenly came upon four persons encamped by a hole dug for water in the sand. We had so completely taken them by surprise, that they were a good deal alarmed, and seizing their spears, assumed an offensive attitude. Finding that we did not wish to injure them, they became friendly in their manner, and offered us some fruit, of which they had a few quarts on a piece of bark. This fruit grows upon a low brambly-looking bush, upon the sand-hills or in the flats, where the soil is of a saline nature. It is found also in the plains bordering upon the lower parts of the Murrumbidgee, but in much greater abundance along the whole line of coast to the westward. The berry is oblong, about the shape and size of an English sloe, is very pulpy and juicy, and has a small pyramidal stone in the centre, which is very hard and somewhat indented. When ripe it is a dark purple, a clear red, or a bright yellow, for there are varieties. The purple is the best flavoured, but all are somewhat saline in taste. To the natives these berries are an important article of food at this season of the year, and to obtain them and the fruit of the mesembryanthemum, they go to a great distance, and far away from water. In eating the berries, the natives make use of them whole, never taking the trouble to get rid of the stones, nor do they seem to experience any ill results from so doing.

Having unsaddled the horses, we set to work to dig holes to water them; the sand, however, was very loose, and hindered us greatly. The natives, who were sitting at no great distance, observed the difficulty under which we were labouring, and one of them who appeared the most influential among them, said something to two of the others, upon which they got up and came towards us, making signs to us to get out of the hole, and let them in; having done so, one of them jumped in, and dug, in an incredibly short time, a deep narrow hole with his hands; then sitting so as to prevent the sand running in, he ladled out the water with a pint pot, emptying it into our bucket, which was held by the other native. As our horses drank a great deal, and the position of the man in the hole was a very cramped one, the two natives kept changing places with each other, until we had got all the water we required.

In this instance we were indebted solely to the good nature and kindness of these children of the wilds for the means of watering our horses: unsolicited they had offered us their aid, without which we never could have accomplished our purpose. Having given the principal native a knife as a reward for the assistance afforded us, we offered the others a portion of our food, being the only way in which we could shew our gratitude to them; they seemed pleased with this attention, and though they could not value the gift, they appeared to appreciate the motives which induced it.

Having rested for a time, and enjoyed a little tea, we inquired of the natives for grass for our horses, as there was none to be seen anywhere. They told us that there was none at all where we were, but they would take us to some further along the coast, where we could also procure water, without difficulty, as the sand was firm and hard, and the water at no great depth. Guided by our new friends, we crossed the sand-hills to the beach, and following round the head of the Great Bight for five miles, we arrived at some more high drifts of white sand; turning in among these, they took us to a flat where some small holes were dug in the sand, which was hard and firm; none of them were two feet deep, and the water was excellent and abundant: the name of the place was Yeer-kumban-kauwe.

Whilst I was employed in digging a large square hole, to enable us to dip the bucket when watering the horses, the native boy went, accompanied by one of the natives as a guide, to look for grass. Upon his return, he said he had been taken to a small plain about a mile away, behind the sand hills, where there was plenty of grass, though of a dry character; to this we sent the horses for the night. In returning, a few sea fowl were shot as a present for our friends, with whom we encamped, gratified that we had at last surmounted the difficulty of rounding the Great Bight, and that once more we had a point where grass and water could be procured, and from which we might again make another push still further to the westward.

In the evening, we made many inquiries of the natives, as to the nature of the country inland, the existence of timber, rocks, water, etc. and though we were far from being able to understand all that they said, or to acquire half the information that they wished to convey to us, we still comprehended them sufficiently to gather many useful and important particulars. In the interior, they assured us, most positively, there was no water, either fresh or salt, nor anything like a sea or lake of any description.

They did not misunderstand us, nor did we misapprehend them upon this point, for to our repeated inquiries for salt water, they invariably pointed to a salt lake, some distance behind the sand-hills, as the only one they knew of, and which at this time we had not seen.

With respect to hills or timber, they said, that neither existed inland, but that further along the coast to the westward, we should find trees of a larger growth, and among the branches of which lived a large animal, which by their description, I readily recognized as being the Sloth of New South Wales; an animal whose habits exactly agreed with their description, and which I knew to be an inhabitant of a barren country, where the scrub was of a larger growth than ordinary. One of the natives had a belt round his waist, made of the fur of the animal they described, and on inspecting it, the colour and length of the hair bore out my previous impression.

The next water along the coast we were informed, was ten days journey from Yeerkumban kauwe, and was situated among sand-drifts, similar to those we were at, but beyond the termination of the line of cliffs, extending westward from the head of the Bight, and which were distinctly visible from the shore near our camp. These cliffs they called, "Bundah," and at two days' journey from their commencement, they told us were procured the specimens of flints (Jula) we had seen upon their weapons, and of which one or two small pieces had been picked up by us among the sand-drifts, having probably been dropped there by the natives.

January 8.—To-day we remained in camp to recruit the horses, and the natives remained with us; soon after breakfast one of them lit a signal fire upon a sand-hill, and not long afterwards we were joined by three more of the tribe, but the women kept out of sight. I now sent the native boy out with one to shoot birds for them, but he came back with only a single crow, and I was obliged to go myself, to try whether I could not succeed better. Being lucky enough to procure four, I gave them to the natives, and returning to the camp we all dined, and afterwards lay down to rest for an hour.

Upon getting up, I missed a knife I had been using, and which had been lying beside me. One of the strange natives who had come to the camp this morning, had been sitting near me, and I at once suspected him to be the thief, but he was now gone, and I had no prospect of recovering the lost article. In the afternoon, the stranger came up to the camp again, and I at once taxed him with the theft; this he vehemently denied, telling me it was lost in the sand, and pretending to look anxiously for it; he appeared, however, restless and uneasy, and soon after taking up his spears went away with two others. My own native boy happened to be coming over the sand-hills at the time, but unobserved by them, and as they crossed the ridge he saw the man I had accused stop to pick something up, and immediately called out to me; upon this I took my gun, and ascending the hill, saw the native throw down the knife, which my own boy then picked up; the other natives had now come up, and seemed very anxious to prevent any hostilities, and to the chief of those who had been so friendly with us, I explained as well as I could the nature of the misunderstanding, and requested him to order the dishonest native away, upon which he spoke to them in his own language, and all took up their spears and went away, except himself and one other. These two men remained with us until dark, but as the evening appeared likely to be wet, they left us also, when we lay down for the night.

January 9.—The morning set in cold, dark and rainy, and as much wet had fallen during the night, we had been thoroughly drenched through, our fire had been extinguished, and it was long before we could get it lit again, and even then we could hardly keep it in; the few bushes among the sand hills were generally small, and being for the most part green as well as wet, it required our utmost efforts to prevent the fire from going out; so far indeed were we from being either cheered or warmed by the few sparks we were able to keep together, that the chill and comfortless aspect of its feeble rays, made us only shiver the more, as the rain fell coldly and heavily upon our already saturated garments. About noon the weather cleared up a little, and after getting up and watering the horses, we collected a large quantity of firewood and made waterproof huts for ourselves. The rain, however, was over, and we no longer required them.