In the meantime the women and little children moved round the hill, examining everything with the most intense delight:  a pony which was in front of the camp more particularly excited their attention; the little children laughed loudly at it, and appeared also to laugh at the party themselves, regarding them much the same way that little boys do a stranger in foreign costume when he appears in the streets of a country village in England.  The native men regarded the pony more seriously; they walked round and round, examining it carefully, and when the little stallion, becoming playful from these marks of attention, neighed, put down his head, and prepared to fight and kick vigorously, they all beat a precipitate retreat.

The party at the tents overlooked all their movements and heard every word that was uttered.  They describe the language this people spoke as clear, distinct, and agreeable to the ear; the men they observed to be a fine race, tall and athletic:  two were remarked in particular, one of whom was very tall, and had his forehead and face painted with white (their sign of mourning, and that there is a death to avenge) whilst the other was of a far lighter shade of colour than the rest, and these two appeared to direct the general movements.

After some time distant shouts were heard from other natives in the direction in which my party had seen me go; and a large body of the native men instantly hurried off in that quarter, headed by the tall man and the light-coloured one I have just mentioned.  Then ensued a pause of about two hours, during which the native women and children wandered about in the distance, conversing in groups:  suddenly was heard shouts, as of distress, from the same quarter, which were answered by the natives in front of the camp, when all moved off in a hurried manner and were seen there no more.  But in the interim another scene connected with this had been passing at a distance.

Events in tracing A road.

On quitting the camp in the morning I and my two companions traversed for some time portions of the elevated sandstone plains which I had passed on a former occasion; and, after an hour’s walking through the gloomy stringy-bark forest which covered them, we reached a stream of water running in a shallow valley; and as there was a bad route down to this I halted to make a road which the ponies could traverse.  There was plenty of water and forage hereabouts, and a fine level country for our proceedings, so that we were all in high hopes and spirits, and, as I then believed, our principal difficulties were at an end.

Whilst at work at the road we all thought that we heard a native call, and that others answered him; having listened for a repetition of these sounds we again heard them, but they were so indistinct in character that none of us this time agreed as to what they were.  I imagined that it was the call of a bird and, when I again heard the same sound very faintly in the distance, I felt convinced it was not a human voice, and proceeded on my way perfectly at ease.