their present conduct, and unappalled by the effect of firearms, to which they were no longer strangers, they had boastingly invaded the haunts of other tribes, more peaceably disposed than themselves, for the avowed purpose of meeting and attacking us.  They had persisted in following us with such bundles of spears as we had never seen on other occasions, and they were on the alert to kill any stragglers, having already, as they acknowledged, destroyed two of our cattle.

This collision took place so suddenly that no man had thought of remaining at the heads of the horses and cattle, as already stated; nor was I aware of this until, on returning to them, I found the reins in the hands of Piper’s gin; a tall woman who, wrapped in a blanket, with Piper’s sword on her shoulder, and having a blind eye, opaque and white like that of some Indian idol, presented rather a singular appearance as she stood the only guardian of all we possessed.  Her presence of mind in assuming such a charge on such an occasion was very commendable, and seemed characteristic of the female aborigines.

I gave to the little hill which witnessed this overthrow of our enemies and was to us the harbinger of peace and tranquillity the name of Mount Dispersion.

CROSS A TRACT INTERSECTED BY DEEP LAGOONS.

The day’s journey was still before us.  On leaving the river we soon encountered a small creek or ana-branch* and, though I made a practice of avoiding all such obstructions by going round rather than crossing them, yet in the present case I was compelled to deviate from my rule on finding that this creek would take me too far northward.  Soon after, we approached a lagoon and during the whole day, turn wherever we would, we were met by similar bodies of water or, as I considered them, pools left in the turnings and windings of some ana-branch formed during high floods of the river.  Nevertheless I managed to preserve a course in the desired direction; and at length we encamped on the bank of several deep ponds which lay in the channel of a broad watercourse.  I was anxious to avoid if possible being shut up between ana-branches and the river lest, as the river seemed rising, I might be at length surrounded by deep water.  I was in some uncertainty here about the actual situation of the Murray and our position was anything but good; for it was in the midst of scrubby ground, and did not command, in any way, the place where alone grass enough was to be found for the cattle.  The bergs of the river were not to be seen, although the river itself could not be distant; for the whole country traversed this day was of that description which belongs to the margin of streams, being grassy land under an open forest containing goborro and yarra trees.  These are seldom found in that region at any considerable distance from the banks of the river, the whole interior country being covered with Eucalyptus dumosa and patches of the pine or Callitris pyramidalis.