a half feet long and two and a half inches in diameter, and shields formed of a single piece of wood two and a half feet long and three inches wide.  The river proved to be fresh, and in pools separated by rock flats, and is evidently the same that Dr. Leichhardt supposed to be the Albert—­a mistake which has caused considerable error in the maps of his route; as it was not named, I called it the Leichhardt.  The character of the country is inferior, as the grass which covers the plains is principally aristidia and andropogon; anthisteria or kangaroo grass only in small patches.  The soil is a good brown loam.

Latitude by Vega 18 degrees 11 minutes 50 seconds.

Attack by the natives.

5th September.

At daybreak we heard the blacks making a great noise up the river, and while the horses were being brought in nineteen blacks came to the camp, all armed with clubs and spears.  They did not make any hostile demonstration, and the approach of the horses appeared to keep them in check; and a person unacquainted with the treacherous character of the Australian might have thought them friendly.  When we started at 6.50 a.m. they followed the party to the bank of the river, and began to ship their spears, and when we were crossing a deep ravine made a rush on us with their spears poised ready to throw them at us, hoping to take advantage of our position; but just as their leader was in the act of throwing his spear he received a charge of small shot.  This checked them, and we charged them on horseback, and with a few shots from our revolvers put them to flight, except one man, who climbed a tree, where we left him, as our object was only to procure our own safety, and that with as little injury to the blacks as possible.  We did not pursue our advantage; by following the fugitives.  Proceeding down the river a short distance, at 7.40 crossed to the right bank on a ledge of flat rocks.  It was here about 100 yards wide, with shallow reaches of water, the banks rising steep—­thirty to forty feet.  Very little vegetation grew on the banks, which appeared to result from salt water occasionally reaching this part at very high tides.  We now steered east over level grassy plains, with patches of box and terminalia.  Passed a small but deep waterhole, near which were two black gins, who did not appear to notice us.  At 10.0 the country was covered with an open scrub of terminalia, with silvery leaves, and triodia replaced the grass.  At noon passed a small rocky gully with a waterhole, which our horses quite emptied of its contents.  Altering the course to north-east, the country was covered with melaleuca scrub, with silver-leafed ironbark, triodia, and a little grass; but we soon re-entered the open plains which extended to the north, and, following a watercourse at 3.5 p.m. camped at a small muddy waterhole, on the banks of which the blacks had often encamped, as shown by the heaps of mussel-shells round their fireplaces.  Our route has been along the southern limit of the open grassy plains, and to the south the country rises into low ridges and stony plains, covered with scrub and triodia.