At break of dawn we resumed our exploration.  The morning was dull and cloudy, thermometer 59 degrees; on the previous day its greatest height had been 85 degrees.  Two miles from our bivouac, we fell in with a recent native grave—­a circular pit three yards in diameter, filled within a foot of the surface with sand, carefully smoothed over.  Small sticks, some with red horizontal marks painted on them, and others scraped, with the shavings tastefully twisted round, ornamented the edge of the grave; a large semicircular fence fronted the south-east side; and the neighbourhood bore evidence, in the shape of several destroyed huts, of its having been deserted by the companions of the dead.  After walking at least five miles, we again made the Chapman or Greenough, above a mile south of the point at which we before met it, and pursuing its usual course between South and South-South-West.  The bed was still dry sand, but we found a small hole of brackish water in a hollow.  Crossing, we continued our west direction, and were surprised to find ourselves again on the river; a line of red cliffs thirty feet high, forming the south bend, had changed its course to the northward.  We subsequently again crossed two dry parts of it; from an elevation on the South-West side of the last, Mount Fairfax bore North 50 degrees East and Wizard Peak South 58 degrees East.

RECOGNITION BEND.

Hitherto I had been in doubt whether this was the Chapman or Greenough of Captain Grey; but here finding that a branch trended southwards, I was convinced it was the latter, and gave this part the name of Recognition Bend, as it further led to my discovering that Captain Grey had mistaken the hills in Captain King’s chart,* and that, therefore, his description of the country refers to another portion; and it is only justice to him to state, that considering he was travelling for his life, and the great hardships he endured, it is surprising how the information collected was obtained.

(Footnote.  This error Captain Grey candidly acknowledged in the following letter to me, afterwards published by his authority in the South Australian Register.

Government House, Adelaide, January 28th, 1842.

My dear Sir,

I have attentively read your letter to the Honourable the Surveyor-General of Western Australia; I have also considered the observations made by you to me, relative to the error you suppose I have fallen into in mistaking the Wizard Peak of Captain King for the hill named by him Mount Fairfax; and I find that I have certainly fallen into this error, a by no means unlikely one, considering the very similar character of the singular group of hills, called Moresby’s Flat-topped Range, and the circumstances under which I was journeying.  Consequently the country I have described as lying near Mount Fairfax, lies near some other hill to the north of Mount Fairfax, and the country I have described as lying near Wizard Hill lies near Mount Fairfax, being placed from ten to twelve miles south of its true latitude.