Before daylight I went for the horses, while Mr. Tietkens got the swag and things ready to start away.  I returned, tied up the horses, and we had just begun to eat the little bit of damper we had for breakfast, when Mr. Tietkens, whose nervous system seems particularly alive to any native approach, gave the alarm, that our pursuers were again upon us, and we were again saluted with their hideous outcries.  Breakfast was now a matter of minor import; instantly we slung everything on to the horses, and by the time that was done we were again surrounded.  I almost wished we had only one of our rifles which we had left at home.  We could do nothing with such an insensate, insatiable mob of wretches as these; as a novelist would say, we flung ourselves into our saddles as fast as we could, and fairly gave our enemies the slip, through the speed of our horses, they running after us like a pack of yelping curs, in maddening bray.  The natives ran well for a long distance, nearly three miles, but the pace told on them at last and we completely distanced them.  Had we been unsuccessful in finding water in this region and then met these demons, it is more than probable we should never have escaped.  I don’t sigh to meet them again; the great wonder was that they did not sneak upon and spear us in the night, but the fact of our having a waterless encampment probably deterred them.  We kept at a good pace till we reached the Chirnside, and gave our horses a drink, but went on twenty miles to Louisa’s Creek before we rested.  We only remained here an hour.  We saw no more of our enemies, but pushed on another twenty-two miles, till we reached the Hull, where we could find no water.

On the subject of the natives, I may inform my reader that we often see places at native camps where the ground has been raised for many yards, like a series of babies’ graves; these are the sleeping-places of the young and unmarried men, they scoop the soil out of a place and raise it up on each side:  these are the bachelors’ beds—­twenty, thirty, and forty are sometimes seen in a row; on top of each raised portion of soil two small fires are kept burning in lieu of blankets.  Some tribes have their noses pierced, others not.  Some have front teeth knocked out, and others not.  In some tribes only women have teeth knocked out.

Our supply of food now consisted of just sufficient flour to make two small Johnny-cakes, and as we still had over eighty miles to go, we simply had to do without any food all day, and shall have precisely the same quantity to-morrow—­that is to say, none.  In eleven or twelve miles next morning we reached the caves near the Ruined Rampart, where we rested and allowed the horses to feed.  At night we camped again without food or water.  The morning after, we reached Gill’s Pinnacle early, and famished enough to eat each other.  We mixed up, cooked, and ate our small remnant of flour.  The last two days have been reasonably cool; anything under