r, one of
whom was very tall, and had his forehead and face painted with white
(their sign of mourning, and that there is a death to avenge) whilst the
other was of a far lighter shade of colour than the rest, and these two
appeared to direct the general movements.

After some time distant shouts were heard from other natives in the
direction in which my party had seen me go; and a large body of the
native men instantly hurried off in that quarter, headed by the tall man
and the light-coloured one I have just mentioned. Then ensued a pause of
about two hours, during which the native women and children wandered
about in the distance, conversing in groups: suddenly was heard shouts,
as of distress, from the same quarter, which were answered by the natives
in front of the camp, when all moved off in a hurried manner and were
seen there no more. But in the interim another scene connected with this
had been passing at a distance.

EVENTS IN TRACING A ROAD.

On quitting the camp in the morning I and my two companions traversed for
some time portions of the elevated sandstone plains which I had passed on
a former occasion; and, after an hour's walking through the gloomy
stringy-bark forest which covered them, we reached a stream of water
running in a shallow valley; and as there was a bad route down to this I
halted to make a road which the ponies could traverse. There was plenty
of water and forage hereabouts, and a fine level country for our
proceedings, so that we were all in high hopes and spirits, and, as I
then believed, our principal difficulties were at an end.

Whilst at work at the road we all thought that we heard a native call,
and that others answered him; having listened for a repetition of these
sounds we again heard them, but they were so indistinct in character that
none of us this time agreed as to what they were. I imagined that it was
the call of a bird and, when I again heard the same sound very faintly in
the distance, I felt convinced it was not a human voice, and proceeded on
my way perfectly at ease.

My attention was soon occupied by other objects. I saw from a hill I
ascended some remarkable blue peaks to the south: this gave us fresh
hopes; and nothing occurred till about three-quarters of an hour after we
had first heard the native call, when we arrived at a short descent
covered with rocks, from which started a large kangaroo; I got a fair
shot at, and knocked it over, but it sprang up again