As New Year’s Creek was leading northerly, it had been determined to trace it down as long as it should keep that course, or one to the westward of it.  We broke up the camp, therefore, under the range, on the evening of the 18th, and moved to the creek, about two miles north of the place at which we had before crossed it, with the intention of prosecuting our journey on the morrow.  But both Mr. Hume and I were so fatigued that we were glad of an opportunity to rest, even for a single day.  We remained stationary, therefore, on the 19th; nor was I without hope that the natives whom we had surprised in the woods, would have paid us a visit, since Mr. Hume had met them in his search for Norman, and they had promised not only to come to us, but to do all in their power to find the man, whose footsteps some of them had crossed.  They did not, however, venture near us; and I rather attribute their having kept aloof, to the circumstance of Mr. Hume’s having fired a shot, shortly after he left them, as a signal to Norman, in the event of his being within hearing of the report.  They must have been alarmed at so unusual a sound; but I am sure nothing was further from Mr. Hume’s intention than to intimidate them; his knowledge of their manners and customs, as well as his partiality to the natives, being equally remarkable.  The circumstance is, however, a proof of the great caution that is necessary in communicating with them.

Annoyed by kangaroo flies.

I have said that we remained stationary the day after we left the range, with a view to enjoy a little rest; it would, however, have been infinitely better if we had moved forward.  Our camp was infested by the kangaroo fly, which settled upon us in thousands.  They appeared to rise from the ground, and as fast as they were swept off were succeeded by fresh numbers.  It was utterly impossible to avoid their persecution, penetrating as they did into the very tents.

The men were obliged to put handkerchiefs over their faces, and stockings upon their hands; but they bit through every thing.  It was to no purpose that I myself shifted from place to place; they still followed, or were equally numerous everywhere.  To add to our discomfort, the animals were driven almost to madness, and galloped to and fro in so furious a manner that I was apprehensive some of them would have been lost.  I never experienced such a day of torment; and only when the sun set, did these little creatures cease from their attacks.

Suddenly relieved.

It will be supposed that we did not stay to subject ourselves to another trial; indeed it was with some degree of horror that the men saw the first light of morning streak the horizon.  They got up immediately, and we moved down the creek, on a northerly course, without breakfasting as usual.  We found that dense brushes of casuarina lined the creek on both sides, beyond which, to our left, there was open rising ground, on which eucalypti, cypresses, and the acacia longifolia, prevailed; whilst to the east, plains seemed to predominate.