to expect some important and
decisive change in the character and formation of the country. It was the
appearance for the first time of the Banksia, a shrub which I had never
before found to the westward of Spencer's Gulf, but which I knew to
abound in the vicinity of King George's Sound, and that description of
country generally. Those only who have looked out with the eagerness and
anxiety of a person in my situation, to note any change in the vegetation
or physical appearance of a country, can appreciate the degree of
satisfaction with which I recognised and welcomed the first appearance of
the Banksia. Isolated as it was amidst the scrub, and insignificant as
the stunted specimens were that I first met with, they led to an
inference that I could not be mistaken in, and added, in a tenfold
degree, to the interest and expectation with which every mile of our
route had now become invested. During the day the weather had been again
cloudy, with the appearance of rain; but the night turned out cold and
frosty, and both I and the native suffered extremely. We had little to
protect us from the severity of the season, never being able to procure
firewood of a description that would keep burning long at once, so that
between cold and fatigue, we were rarely able to get more than a few
moments rest at a time; and were always glad when daylight dawned to
cheer us, although it only aroused us to the renewal of our unceasing
toil.

May 2.--We again moved away at dawn, through a country which gradually
become more scrubby, hilly, and sandy. The horses crawled on for
twenty-one miles, when I halted for an hour to rest, and to have a little
tea from our now scanty stock of water. The change which I had noticed
yesterday in the vegetation of the country, was greater and more cheering
every mile we went, although as yet the country itself was as desolate
and inhospitable as ever. The smaller Banksias now abounded, whilst the
Banksia grandis, and many other shrubs common at King George's Sound,
were frequently met with. The natives, whose tracks we had so frequently
met with, taking the same course as ourselves to the westward, seemed now
to be behind us; during the morning we had passed many freshly lit fires,
but the people themselves remained concealed; we had now lost all traces
of them, and the country seemed untrodden and untenanted. In the course
of our journey this morning, we met with many holes in the sheets of
limestone, w