Away, away go we (I, Mr. Roe, and Kinchela) along the shore away, along the shore away, along the shore away.  We see no fresh water; along the shore away, along the shore away.  We see a paper, the paper of Mortimer and Spofforth.  Away we go, away, away, along the shore away, away, away, a long distance we go.  I see Mr. Smith’s footsteps ascending a sandhill, onwards I go regarding his footsteps.  I see Mr. Smith dead.  We commence digging the earth.

Two sleeps had he been dead; greatly did I weep, and much I grieved.  In his blanket folding him, we scraped away the earth.

We scrape earth into the grave, we scrape the earth into the grave, a little wood we place in it.  Much earth we heap upon it, much earth we throw up.  No dogs can dig there, so much earth we throw up.  The sun had just inclined to the westward as we laid him in the ground.

...

The following are extracts from a journal kept by me whilst resident at King George’s Sound.

ROBBERY BY PEERAT’S WIVES.  TRANSACTIONS WITH THE NATIVES IN A CASE OF POTATO STEALING.

Thursday January 23.

Directly after breakfast a soldier came to me with a complaint that the natives had last night robbed his garden in the settlement of nearly one hundred weight of potatoes; I was determined to have here no repetition of scenes similar to what had recently taken place; and therefore resolved to act promptly and vigorously upon this first offence.

My first object was, in my punishment, not to involve the innocent and guilty together, which is too often done by the Europeans in these colonies.

I therefore got hold of an intelligent native of the name of Moyee-e-nan, and, accompanied by him, visited the garden whence the potatoes had been stolen; he found the tracks of three natives and, availing himself of the faculty which they possess of telling who has passed from their footmarks, he informed me that the three thieves had been the two wives of a native of the name Peerat, and a little boy named Dal-be-an, the son of Peerat.  Being now well acquainted with the natives I was well satisfied that this evidence was of the most conclusive nature, and proceeded to act upon it by trying to arrest the delinquents; but I found that they had, immediately after committing the theft, walked off into the bush, thereby hoping to avoid suspicion and with the intention of remaining absent until the affair had blown over.

MEASURES FOR APPREHENDING THEM.

My mind was soon made up to pursue my friend Peerat and his fugitive wives, but it was necessary that I should proceed with great caution in order not to alarm the guilty parties when they saw us approaching, in which case I should have had no chance of apprehending them; and I did not intend to adopt the popular system of shooting them when they ran away.  I therefore determined to take no Europeans, but only four natives who could track the delinquents.