We proceeded about a mile below the hill on which the natives were posted; some few still following us with violent threats.  We landed, however, on a flat, bounded all round by the continuation of the hills.  It was an admirable position, for, in the centre of it, we could not be taken by surprise, and, on the other hand, we gave the natives an opportunity of communicating with us if they would.  The full moon rose as we were forming the camp, and, notwithstanding our vicinity to so noisy a host, the silence of death was around us, or the stillness of the night was only broken by the roar of the ocean, now too near to be mistaken for wind, or by the silvery and melancholy note of the black swans as they passed over us, to seek for food, no doubt, among the slimy weeds at the head of the lake.  We had been quite delighted with the beauty of the channel, which was rather more than half-a-mile in width.  Numberless mounds, that seemed to invite civilised man to erect his dwelling upon them, presented themselves to our view.  The country round them was open, yet ornamentally wooded, and rocks and trees hung or drooped over the waters.

Extent of the lake.

We had in one day gained a position I once feared it would have cost us infinite labour to have measured.  Indeed, had we been obliged to pull across the lake, unless during a calm, I am convinced the men would have been wholly exhausted.  We had to thank a kind Providence that such was not the case, since it had extended its mercy to us at so critical a moment.  We had indeed need of all the little strength we had remaining, and could ill have thrown it away on such an effort as this would have required.  I calculated that we could not have run less than forty-five miles during the day, a distance that, together with the eight miles we had advanced the evening previously, would give the length of the lake at fifty-three miles.

We had approached to within twelve miles of the ranges, but had not gained their southern extremity.  From the camp, Mount Barker bore nearly north.  The ranges appeared to run north and south to our position, and then to bend away to the S.S.W., gradually declining to that point, which I doubted not terminated in Cape Jervis.  The natives kept aloof during the night, nor did the dogs by a single growl intimate that any had ventured to approach us.  The sound of the surf came gratefully to our ears, for it told us we were near the goal for which we had so anxiously pushed, and we all of us promised ourselves a view of the boundless ocean on the morrow.

Channel to the sea—­its shallowness.