large and
heavy, made of a single piece of wood, and thrown by hand; they had also
smaller ones of reed, with wooden points, which were thrown with the
throwing board, which were flattened vertically; clubs two and a half
feet long and two and a half inches in diameter, and shields formed of a
single piece of wood two and a half feet long and three inches wide. The
river proved to be fresh, and in pools separated by rock flats, and is
evidently the same that Dr. Leichhardt supposed to be the Albert--a
mistake which has caused considerable error in the maps of his route; as
it was not named, I called it the Leichhardt. The character of the
country is inferior, as the grass which covers the plains is principally
aristidia and andropogon; anthisteria or kangaroo grass only in small
patches. The soil is a good brown loam.

Latitude by Vega 18 degrees 11 minutes 50 seconds.

ATTACK BY THE NATIVES.

5th September.

At daybreak we heard the blacks making a great noise up the river, and
while the horses were being brought in nineteen blacks came to the camp,
all armed with clubs and spears. They did not make any hostile
demonstration, and the approach of the horses appeared to keep them in
check; and a person unacquainted with the treacherous character of the
Australian might have thought them friendly. When we started at 6.50 a.m.
they followed the party to the bank of the river, and began to ship their
spears, and when we were crossing a deep ravine made a rush on us with
their spears poised ready to throw them at us, hoping to take advantage
of our position; but just as their leader was in the act of throwing his
spear he received a charge of small shot. This checked them, and we
charged them on horseback, and with a few shots from our revolvers put
them to flight, except one man, who climbed a tree, where we left him, as
our object was only to procure our own safety, and that with as little
injury to the blacks as possible. We did not pursue our advantage; by
following the fugitives. Proceeding down the river a short distance, at
7.40 crossed to the right bank on a ledge of flat rocks. It was here
about 100 yards wide, with shallow reaches of water, the banks rising
steep--thirty to forty feet. Very little vegetation grew on the banks,
which appeared to result from salt water occasionally reaching this part
at very high tides. We now steered east over level grassy plains, with
patches of box and terminalia. Passed a sm