Before entering into the details of this expedition it is requisite to give a short outline of the circumstances under which we started.  The Williams River, from which Mr. Elliott had proceeded, is distant about seventy miles from Leschenault in a direct line.  The Williams is in the interior, and the Leschenault on the sea-coast, and between the two places lies the Darling Range, a high chain of mountains which had never before been crossed at this point.  Now, under ordinary circumstances Mr. Elliott might have been expected to have reached Leschenault in three or four days.  He had therefore only carried with him a supply of provisions calculated to last for that period.  His party consisted of two men besides himself, and he had with him a mare and filly.

His absence had however now unaccountably extended to a period of twenty days; and the only rational conclusion that could be arrived at was that he had either been murdered by the natives or had lost his way.

The Williams is distant from Perth in a direct line about one hundred and twenty miles, and I had thus a considerable journey to perform before I could get upon Mr. Elliott’s tracks; and as this was the bad season of the year there was but little hope that we should be able to follow them for any great distance, if we ever succeeded in finding them.

Notwithstanding these various discouraging circumstances I still however felt warm hopes for his ultimate safety.  He was well acquainted with the bush, having been ten years in the colony; and the same articles of food which formed the subsistence of the natives would at least enable him to maintain life for a considerable period.  He had moreover with him two horses, which past experience had taught me not only to be a nutritious, but even an agreeable article of food.  I imagined therefore that no immediate danger of starvation need be apprehended; and in order that I might have the best possible chance of finding his traces three intelligent natives, Miago, Denmar, and Ninda, were engaged to accompany me.

On the morning of the 9th however, when the party were all ready to start, these natives were not forthcoming.  The length of the journey and the danger of falling in with hostile tribes had frightened them, and they therefore kept themselves aloof from us; but Kaiber, one of the most intelligent natives of these parts, volunteered to supply their place.  Our three horses were soon swum across the estuary of the Swan; and with no slight anxiety I started on an expedition upon the proper conduct of which would probably depend the lives of three of my fellow-creatures.

ROUTE TO THE MURRAY.

Our proceedings until we had reached Pinjarra on the banks of the Murray offer little or no interesting matter; I shall therefore pass them over in silence.  We arrived in Pinjarra on the morning of the 11th, having been somewhat delayed by the weakness of a young horse; as there was however no possibility of obtaining another in its place I was obliged to take it on with us.  On the afternoon of the 11th we made little more than four miles in a southerly direction along the banks of the Murray.