I hesitated to fire upon them; but observing a large body of them advancing with the evident intention of attacking Mr. Roe and his little party in charge of the camp, I advanced a few steps and fired a charge of small shot at the leading men as they were in the act of throwing at us.  The effect was instantaneous and most salutary, as they fled with some precipitation, some of them being evidently wounded.  We mounted extra guard for the remainder of the night, but they did not again venture to attack us.

9th May.

Being Sunday, we only moved a few miles lower down the river for more grass, and again found ourselves in close proximity to the natives.  In the course of the day several of them made their appearance at the top of the hill overlooking the camp, but appeared afraid to molest us; they had with them several large white dogs which were evidently of Australian breed.

10th May.

The river took a south-west course, receiving two large tributaries from the south-east, one of ninety and the other of fifty yards in width.  The flats were wider and large trees more abundant; the recent floods had, however, been very destructive to the pasture, and removed much of the soil for a considerable distance back from the river.  The trap hills here ceased to appear; the last remarkable one lay about ten miles south-east of our morning’s camp, and had been named Mount Dalgetty.  Our evening’s bivouac was found to be in latitude 25 degrees 14 minutes, longitude 115 degrees 30 minutes east by account, and its elevation 700 feet above the sea.

11th May.

Until noon our course along the river was nearly north-west, sandstones beginning to crop out on the banks, and the country generally was poor and scrubby; from our noon halt to sunset our course was nearly west, our bivouac being in latitude 25 degrees 2 minutes.  The bed of the river had here widened out to 300 yards with an average depth of thirty feet, a small stream running through the sand in the bottom.  In addition to the flooded-gum which grows here abundantly, we observed in the bed of the river a melaleuca of large size, like a paper-bark tree, but having broad leaves resembling the eucalyptus.  During the night the natives were very noisy in the vicinity, some of them approaching so close as to startle our horses, keeping us well on the alert; the horses on this as on several other occasions appear to have been our principal safeguard against sudden attack.

Friendly interview with natives.

12th May.

By the time we had commenced loading our horses, a large body of natives had collected and approached to reconnoitre our camp; I advanced towards them to keep them in check until the loads were completed.  On observing that I came alone three natives advanced to meet me, throwing three or four spears at me in a friendly way, which I picked up and stuck in the ground by my side; this token at once established a