19th July.

The camp was easily aroused by the morning watch, as there was now only six miles between us and the landing-place in Hearson cove, the horses appearing to partake of the general activity; so that it was only 10.0 a.m. when we arrived on our old camping ground, which we found occupied by ten or a dozen natives, engaged mending their nets.  Coming upon them suddenly, they would not stop to carry off their gear, although not half an hour before they had been employed assisting a boat’s crew from the Dolphin, in loading with wood and water.  A rifle-shot soon recalled the boat, which was not a mile from the shore, when we were glad to learn that Mr. Hearson was fast recovering from his wound, and that all had been going on well since our departure.  From Mr. Walcott I ascertained that he had been able to establish a friendly understanding with the natives who frequented the western side of the bay, and that they had been made useful in filling up the ship’s water and wood, for which service they had been rewarded by a suitable distribution of biscuit.  In one instance the natives on the eastern shore of the bay had shown a hostile tendency on the occasion of a boat landing on the reef to gather shells.  One of the seaman, who had wandered from the rest, was chased into the sea, and menaced with spears and clubs until he was up to his neck in water, when the boat came to his rescue, the officer in charge of her firing a shot over their heads to drive them off.  Mr. Walcott had also been successful in obtaining a very useful vocabulary of native words and other interesting particulars from the aborigines, as also many botanical specimens, shells, etc.—­amongst the latter some very fine pearl-oysters, from which several pearls of good colour had been obtained, but appeared to be principally valuable on account of the size and beauty of the mother-of-pearl, which averaged six inches diameter, with more than half an inch in thickness of solid shell.

Party refit for journey to eastward.

20th July.

The forge, stores, and other additional supplies having been landed, and the party set to work shoeing horses, repairing saddle-bags, etc., I proceeded with Mr. Walcott and Mr. Angel in the boat to make a rough survey of the coves on the western side of the bay, with a view to selecting a suitable spot from which to re-embark the horses on our return from the next trip, as it would be too late in the season by that time to venture the trip overland to Champion Bay.  I found that a good anchorage existed, with three fathoms at low water, one mile off the little cove from which the ship had been watered, and is approachable at all times, except in strong east or south-east gales, when a heavy swell sets in across the bay, rendering a landing unsafe.  The fresh water runs down a rocky gully at the north-west corner of the cove, at the north end of a small patch of sandy beach,