Two young men only were in the craft, which ran close in under the mangroves, through which we could see other natives passing. By proceeding cautiously and slowly, I got pretty close to them. They were evidently afraid that if they left it we should take their boat, and this gave them courage to face the strange white men. Terror, however, was marked in their countenances, and one of the two leaped on shore, as we approached, in a state of great excitement, jumping and flinging his arms about violently; whilst sometimes he would dip up a handful of water and squirt it out with great force from the corners of his mouth. The size of the boat appeared, as usual, to astonish the lad who remained in the canoe. He appeared less frightened than the other, and I induced him to accept a few presents from the end of a long stick. Though they had a deficiency in the upper front teeth, they had not disfigured any other part of their bodies. The stature of the two young men was small, perhaps 5 feet 7 inches, but those behind the mangroves were much taller. Alligators being so very numerous I was surprised to notice what little dread the natives appeared to have of them, dancing and wading about in the water near the bank, as if they and the animal had entered into a treaty of amity.
Their alarm appearing to have worn off, we continued our journey, but by hoisting the sail, the good effect was in a great measure counterbalanced, as the sight of it called forth a yell from the whole of them, which catching the echoes, reverberated from side to side, and resounded in our ears for some time afterwards. Proceeding, we gained the end of the twelfth reach early in the afternoon, when we obtained observations for longitude, that being the highest part of the river not surveyed, and distant about fifteen miles from the mouth; we had also just reached the portion frequented by the peculiar whistling wild duck, of which we bagged about twenty, forming an agreeable addition to our evening and next day meals. After concluding the observations, we examined the country for some distance; a level tract met the eye wherever it wandered, broken here and there by patches of low trees. The plains were thinly dotted with a coarse wiry grass. In places near hollows, where water had collected, the soil, which was a dark kind of clayey mould, cracked and curled up with the heat. A few shells were found scattered over the plains, of the kind so common on the north-east coast (Helix).
The tedious uniformity and sameness in the banks of the Adelaide, thus far, may be illustrated by the fact, that to know the boat's position on returning, it was necessary to have the sketch of the river constantly before our eyes, and to reckon each reach as we passed.
ALLIGATORS.
Taking the return tide, we passed the night in the fourth reach; very stringent orders were given to the watch to keep a sharp lookout for alligators, as a great many had been seen during the day, while we knew that on the previous night a monster of this description had attempted to get into one of the boats. We had fired at several, but with one exception had done no mischief. To be roused by the noise of the boat's keel or side grating harshly against the scaly back of an alligator, is far from being a pleasant occurrence, and on such occasions I generally found myself clutching a pistol, always kept near me, for the purpose of executing judgment upon the very first flat head that showed his nose above the gunwale. Entertaining very vivid recollections of our experience on Fitzroy River, on the first start of the boats great preparations were made against the mosquitoes; to our agreeable surprise, however, we experienced but slight annoyance from them. The exemption, however, was fully made up by the swarms of flies which infest the Adelaide, and during mealtimes availed themselves of the opportunity of popping into our mouths.
There had been a fresh North-East wind the latter part of the day, which dying away was succeeded by a calm and cloudless night with a heavy dew. The thermometer was down to 77 degrees, and in the day varied from 87 to 92.
RETURN OF THE BOATS.
August 6.
We got on board in the forenoon, when the result of our examination was heard with a satisfaction not easily expressed, but which may be readily imagined. We felt that we had discovered a river navigable for vessels of four and five hundred tons, for about fifty miles, and into fresh water, a thing hitherto unknown in Australia. We may then with justice congratulate ourselves on the importance of the discovery of the Adelaide.
ADAM BAY.