In as far as a native can turn white from fear Kaiber did turn white, and then stepping into the water he waded ashore and the two natives cautiously approached him.  As soon as they were close to him I joined the party with a large piece of damper in one hand and a piece of pork in the other.  The natives were dreadfully frightened; they stood in the presence of unknown and mysterious beings.  No persuasions could induce them to take my hand or to touch me; and they trembled from head to foot.

FRIENDLY COMMUNICATION ESTABLISHED.

For a time they were nearly unintelligible to Kaiber and myself, but as they gained confidence I found that they spoke a dialect very closely resembling that of the natives to the north of the Swan River.  They addressed many questions to us, such as, Whence we had come? where we were going to? was the boat a dead tree? but they evaded giving any direct answers to our questions.  Being anxious to start I now left them to bear to their companions the strange food I had bestowed, and to recount to eager listeners the mysterious tale of their interview with beings from another world, and who were of an unknown form and colour.

SAIL FROM THE GASCOYNE.

Whilst they hurried off with some such thoughts passing through their minds we pulled down the Gascoyne in search of new lands and new adventures.

AFFINITY OF DIALECTS.

The result of this conference affords an example of the grounds upon which any similarity of the language in different portions of the continent of Australia has been denied.  In this instance, had I at first taken the word of Kaiber for it, I should have left the Gascoyne with a firm conviction that the natives of that part of Australia spoke a radically different language from the natives near the Swan River; and this would have been proved by the fact of a native from the south not understanding them:  whereas there is a great affinity between the two dialects, to discover which requires however an acquaintance with the general principles of language, some knowledge of the one in question, and due patience.  I can only say that wherever I have been in the southern portions of the continent I could soon understand the natives.

CHAPTER 16.  TO KOLAINA AND BACK TO THE GASCOYNE.

EXAMINE THE COAST TO THE NORTH OF THE GASCOYNE.

March 7.

When we got outside the mouth of the Gascoyne a fresh breeze was blowing from the south-east.  We ran along the shore west by north, keeping about a quarter of a mile from it; and after having made about three miles and a half we reached the southern extremity of the other mouth of the river.  The mean depth in our course along Babbage Island had been from two and a half fathoms to three fathoms; and this opening had a bar which we then conceived to run right across the mouth of the river.  The northern extremity of Babbage Island is a very remarkable low point of land which I called Mangrove Point.  It cannot fail to be recognised for it is the first point from the northward along the eastern shores of Shark Bay where mangroves are found, and from that point they extend almost uninterruptedly down the eastern coast of this bay to the south, as far as I have seen it.