We now reached a very thick belt of trees, pushing through which was a task of great difficulty, but at length we emerged upon some clear hills overlooking a very extensive and fertile valley, from which arose so dense a fog that portions of it appeared to be a large lake.  Into this valley we descended, and the remainder of the day until near noon was spent by me in endeavouring to get the men to move.

The Irwin river.  AUSTRALIND.

We this morning for the first time met with Zamia trees, and about 12 P.M. came down upon the large sandy bed of a dried up river which I named the Irwin after my friend Major Irwin, the Commandant at Swan River; following this for half a mile we found a native well, dug to a considerable depth in the bed, but all our scraping here was vain.  Water was found at a great depth, but so shallow that we could not dip it up.  Some of the men saw four native boys playing in the grassy plains near us; directly however the little fellows perceived us, they scampered off at their utmost speed, and no doubt ever since that period they have been firm believers in the existence of ghosts.

The men now began to complain much of the want of water, and I for some time followed the traces of these native boys, who had come from the southward and eastward, in the hope that their tracks would lead us to it, but the grumbling and discontent of some of the men was so great that I found it almost impossible to induce them to move.  My object was to get them to walk to a high peaked hill distant about five miles from us in a due south-east direction, and under which I felt certain, from its height, that we should find water, but I was obliged at last to give up this idea:  Charles Woods would not stir at all, and several of the men followed his example; they laid down on the ground and no inducement could prevail on them either to move or to abandon a portion of their loads; and this obstinacy on their part was accompanied in some instances with the most blasphemous and horrid expressions.  Indeed I could not conceal from myself the fact of its being the general impression that my mode of proceeding was “killing the men,” and that consequently some of them had arrived at the resolution of compelling me by their conduct to adopt their favourite system of short marches and long halts.  But I was still aware of the disastrous consequences which must necessarily result from such a mode of proceeding, and determined to have nothing to do with it.

In the course of the afternoon I managed to get the party to move about a mile and a half in an easterly direction, but they here again sat down and could neither be induced to walk or to part with their bundles.

Search for water.

As they had not tasted water today I selected the best walkers, namely, Corporals Auger and Coles, Hackney, Henry Woods, and Kaiber, and went off to look for some to bring to the rest.  We were now on a well-beaten native path which traversed a fertile tract of country, and along this we continued our route, walking as rapidly as we could, for night was coming on apace.  From this path we made frequent divergencies but found no water; in one instance we met with a native well of great depth, where a party of them had been drinking a few days before, but it was now quite dry.