PIPER OVERTAKES TWO YOUTHS FISHING IN LAKE BENANEE.

I perceived only one or two natives fishing, and I took Piper down to the beach to speak to them, being desirous also to examine at leisure this fine sheet of water.  We found on arriving there that other natives had run off from some huts on the shore, but Piper pursued those in the lake, for the purpose of obtaining information about the tribe, until they ran so far out into the water that they seemed at length up to their ears, and I was really afraid that the poor fellows, who were found to be only boys, would be drowned in endeavouring to avoid him.  I could scarcely distinguish them at length from the numerous waterfowl floating around.  In vain I called to their pursuer to come back, Piper was not to be baffled by boys, and continued to walk through the water like a giant, brandishing a short spear, or, as the boys would probably say to their tribe;

Black he stood as night,
Fierce as ten furies, terrible as hell,
And shook a dreadful dart.

At length, when apparently near the centre of the lake, he overtook one; and while leading him towards the shore he ascertained that the Darling tribe had returned to the lake only on the day before, having been ever since their dispersion on the 27th May until this time, on the opposite bank of the Murray.  That they were then fishing in a lagoon near the river (where in fact we afterwards saw smoke and heard their voices) and that they had despatched three messengers to a portion of the tribe on the upper Darling, with the news of what had befallen them, of our progress in that direction, and requesting them to join them as soon as possible at the lake.

DESCRIPTION OF THE LAKE.

I perceived that the depth of water in this basin did not then in any part exceed 8 or 10 feet, although the surface was probably 20 feet below the level of the sandy beach, thus making 28 or 30 feet the extreme depth when full.  Now that I could examine it at leisure, I found that this fine lake was much more extensive than I had at first supposed.  The breadth was about four miles, and I could see along it in a westerly direction at least six miles.  Part of the north-western shore seemed to be clear of trees but well covered with grass, and to slope gently towards the water.  The whole was surrounded by a beach consisting of fine clean quartzose sand.  This was an admirable station for a numerous body like that from the Darling.  The cunning old men of that tribe seemed well aware that there they could neither be surrounded nor surprised; the approach to the lake from the river being also covered in both directions by deep creeks, passable only at certain places.  Their choice of such a position was creditable to their skill in strategy, and consistent with their thorough knowledge of localities.  I could spare no time to look at the country beyond this lake (or northward) as I wished to do.  From what we learnt