end, aim, and ambition of all Australian force or policy—­he yet evidently holds these northmen in great dread.  They are, according to his account, “Bad men—­eat men—­Perth men tell me so:  Perth men say, Miago, you go on shore very little, plenty Quibra men* go, you go.”  These instructions appear to have been very carefully pressed upon him by his associates, and certainly they had succeeded in inspiring him with the utmost dread of this division of his fellow countrymen, which all his boasting about killing some of them and taking one of their women as proof of his prowess, back to Perth, failed to concern.

(Footnote. i.e.  Men of the ship.)

Clouds of Magellan.

He gave me this evening a new reason to account for the appearance of the two small clouds called after the celebrated Magellan, in the following words:  “You see,” said he, pointing up to the sky, “little smoke.”  I assented at once; for certainly the clouds have very much the appearance of that to which he compared them:  he then continued:  “Perth man tell me, long, long time back, he make fire, smoke go far away up, far away, stop and never go away more.”  Miago evidently believed that his friend at Perth had really lighted the fire, the smoke of which had thus gone up “far away, far away,” to “stop and never go away more.”  I can easily enough comprehend why the assertion might be made, and possibly without any intention to deceive upon the part of the asserter, who may first have seen the clouds after watching the ascent of his own fire smoke through the still air, in the same direction; but that it should be implicitly believed, as it evidently was by Miago, upon the mere word of his fellow countryman, did, I own, astonish me; and seems to indicate that, in their social intercourse with each other, they may have more regard for truth than I was at first inclined to give them credit for.

Useless bay.

Mr. Usborne was away to-day in one of the boats, seeking a berth for the ship higher up the bay:  upon his return he reported that he had been over the banks before mentioned, upon which he found the water very shoal:  the face of the country he described as exceedingly low, with mud lumps not unlike ant-hills,* scattered here and there over the face of it, and several clusters of small trees.  Natives also had been seen, though no opportunity of approaching them had occurred, as the moment their restless eyes, or quick ears, detected our approach, they most rapidly retreated.

(Footnote.  Subsequent experience literally verified this opinion.)

HEAT AND SICKNESS.

January 19.