Sept. 2.—­We travelled N.W. by W. and came, after passing some of the usual tea-tree scrub, to an undulating country, with scattered shrubs of the salt water tea-tree, which grew particularly on the sandy heads of salt water creeks.  Salicornia was another sure indication of salt water; and, after about seven or eight miles, our course was intercepted by a broad salt-water creek.  Its bed, however, was sandy, and the water shallow, which enabled us to cross it a little higher up, without difficulty.  We turned again to the N.W. by W., steering for one of the numerous smokes of the natives’ fires which were visible in every direction.  We soon came, however, to broad sands with deep impressions of the tracks of emus, wallabies, and natives; and to sandy depressions sloping towards narrow salt-water creeks densely fringed with Mangroves.  A large river was no doubt before us.  To get out of this difficult meshwork of salt-waters, I turned to the south-west, and continued in this direction until the sands, Mangrove creeks, and Salicornias, disappeared, and we were again fairly in the scrubs, which however we found more open, and frequently interspersed with bloodwood and Pandanus.  I sent Charley and Brown in different directions to look for water, and a small pool with brackish ferruginous nasty water was found, which made a very miserable tea, and affected our bowels.  In the Mangrove creeks we found Telescopium, Pleurotoma; and heaps of oyster-shells, for the first time on our journey.  Arcas were frequent, but no Cythereas.  The mussels (Unios) of the slightly brackish water were small, but plentiful.

It was on this stage that we first met with a leafless species of Bossiaea, from three to five feet high, with compressed stem, and branches of the habit of Bossiaea scolopendrium, with yellow blossoms, and smooth many-seeded pods little more than an inch long.  This shrub was one of the principal components of all the scrubs we passed from this place to Limmen Bight, and was also found, though less frequently, towards the centre of Arnheim’s Land.

The day was exceedingly hot, though cloudy; the wind from the east:  the night cool, without wind.

When Brown and Charley rejoined us, the former appeared so much alarmed and agitated, that I thought they had met some natives, and had received some injury, although they said they had not.  My imagination was working on the possibility of an attack of the natives, and I consequently laid myself down without taking my boots and trowsers off, to be ready at a moment’s notice, and rose several times in the course of the night to see that the watches were strictly kept.  In the morning watch, John Murphy roused me by saying that he saw a native:  I felt certain now that an attack was about to be made upon us.  I, therefore, immediately gave the alarm, and every one had his gun ready, when it was discovered that our own Brown was the man whom John had mistaken for a strange native.  He had left his couch without being observed, and, when he returned, it was too dark to recognize him; he was, however, very near losing his life, or at least being shot at, for his wild yells “tis me! tis me!” which he uttered when he became aware of his dangerous position, were not understood, but only increased our belief that they were the war-cry of attacking natives.