Strange however to say, my resolution was scarcely made known ere much grumbling arose; and this chiefly amongst those men who had lately been loudest in their praises of the system of only marching a few miles a day and occasionally halting for a day or two where we could get native roots to eat, in fact, amongst those whose foolish ideas had led Stiles to desert the party.  We however moved on in the direction of the spot where Kaiber had lost the tracks, and on our way over the high ground we met a native with his spear and a handful of fish; he was lost in thought and we were close to him before he saw us:  when he did so he took no notice whatever of us, but without even quickening his pace continued in his original line of direction, which crossed ours obliquely.  As he evidently did not wish to communicate with us I directed the men not to take the least notice of him, and thus we passed one another.  He must have been a very brave fellow to act so coolly as he did when an array so strange to him met his eye.

Another party of natives.

On arriving at the beach to the south of a bay or harbour,* which the pressure of circumstances precluded me from examining, we could find nothing of Stiles’s tracks:  he appeared to have gone off due east in the hope of crossing our route, but, being in advance of us, and consequently not finding our traces, it was impossible to say in which direction he might have turned.  The natives now mustered a very large force and occupied the high hills (almost cliffs) which lay a few hundred yards to our left, and, as they had such an advantageous position and could at any moment surprise us amongst the low sandhills where we were searching for Stiles’s footsteps, our situation was one of great danger.  At length, finding it impossible to keep the men steady, I moved them up to the higher ground, where we could have met the natives upon a footing of equality.  They appeared, although very numerous, to be now by no means hostile, merely standing on a high hill, watching us and calling out “Yoongar kaw,” or “Oh, people!” whilst Kaiber, who knew nothing of their vile magical practices, and therefore regarded them as mere ordinary flesh and blood, was very ready to communicate with them; but as they made no other advances, I thought it better merely to remain near them for the night, occasionally firing a gun in hopes Stiles might hear it, and with this intention I selected a spot for our encampment.

(Footnote.  For a further description of this harbour, which has been since denominated Port Grey, see the account of the schooner Champion’s Expedition in the 6th chapter.)

April 8.

We started very early this morning and Kaiber exerted himself to the utmost to find Stiles’s traces.  At the end of three miles, on a course of 180 degrees, we descended from the elevated scrubby plains we had been moving along to the lowlands, and on reaching this came upon the bed of a small watercourse.  I here halted the party; and as it was uncertain when we might again fall in with water I commenced a search for it with Kaiber, but after travelling rapidly over a good deal of ground without seeing either water or any traces of Stiles we rejoined the party very much fatigued.