January 13.—­Our fire had gone out during the night, and all our matches being wet, we could not relight it until noon, when the rays of a hot sun had dried them again.  Having eaten our slender dinner, I walked out to water the horses, leaving the boy in charge of the camp.  Upon my return I found him comfortably seated between two of our friends the natives, who had just returned from a hunting excursion, bringing with them the half roasted carcass of a very fine kangaroo.  They had already bestowed upon the boy two very large pieces, and as soon as I made my appearance they were equally liberal to me, getting up the moment I arrived at the camp, and bringing it over to me of their own accord.  The supply was a most acceptable one, and we felt very grateful for it.  Having received as much of the kangaroo as would fully last for two days, I gave a knife in return to the eldest of the men, with which he seemed highly delighted.  I would gladly have given one to the other also, but I had only one left, and could not spare it.  The natives remained in camp with us for the night, and seemed a good deal surprised when they saw us re-roasting the kangaroo; frequently intimating to us that it had already been cooked, and evidently pitying the want of taste which prevented us from appreciating their skill in the culinary art.

January 14.—­Upon our leaving this morning the natives buried in the sand the remains of their kangaroo, and accompanied us a mile or two on our road, then turning in among the sand-hills they returned to renew their feast.  They had been eating almost incessantly ever since they arrived at the water yesterday, and during the night they had repeatedly got up for the same purpose.  The appetites of these people know no restraint when they have the means of gratifying them; they have no idea of temperance or prudence, and are equally regardless of the evil resulting from excess as they are improvident in preparing for the necessities of the morrow—­“sufficient (literally so to them) for the day is the evil thereof.”

In our route to-day instead of following round the sea-shore, we struck across behind the sand-hills, from “Yeerkumban-kauwe” to the water we had first found on the 7th of January, and in doing so we passed along a large but shallow salt-water lake, which the natives had pointed to on the evening of the 7th, when I made inquiries relative to the existence of salt water inland.  The margin of this lake was soft and boggy, and we were nearly losing one of our horses which sank unexpectedly in the mud.  About noon we arrived at the camp, from which I had sent the man back on the 6th, and having picked up the water and other things left there, proceeded to the sand-hills near which we had halted during the intense heat of that day.  We now rested for several hours, and again moved onwards about eleven at night to avoid the great heat of the day whilst crossing the sandy country before us.