e that I was wrong and
that we were, at this moment, two or three miles to the south of
Leschenault, and that if I persisted in going on in this direction we
should all die for want of water. As I put great faith in his knowledge
of the country I halted and ascended a hill to try and get a view along
the coast; I could not however succeed on account of the haze; and
believing then that I must be in error I turned north. We trudged on,
hour after hour; the sun got higher and more intensely hot, whilst,
having been four-and-twenty hours without water, the greater part of
which time had been spent in violent exercise under a burning sun, the
pangs of thirst became very annoying. A short period more convinced me
that I was right, and that Kaiber was in error; and, as we soon after
fell in with two native wells now dried up, we dug another in a
promising-looking spot near them, and obtained a little water, very muddy
and stinking; but I never enjoyed a draught more in my life. We here
halted for breakfast and by degrees obtained water enough for the horses
as well as ourselves.

ESTUARY OF THE LESCHENAULT.

The evening was consumed in retracing our steps of the morning, and at
night we halted near the head of the Leschenault estuary, being again
without water.

January 23.

Our route this morning was along the estuary of the Leschenault. About
five miles from this place we fell in with a party of natives, who
informed us that a few days before Mr. Elliott and those with him had
arrived there in perfect safety, and my anxiety on this point was
therefore set at rest. We passed the mouth of the river Collie at the
bar, which was almost dry, and halted for breakfast on the banks of the
Preston, about one mile from the house where I expected to find Mr.
Elliott.

MEET WITH MR. ELLIOTT. MR. ELLIOTT'S ADVENTURES.

No sooner was breakfast despatched than I set off to see Mr. Elliott in
order to hear the history of his adventures, which were not a little
surprising. He had, as I before related, started on the 17th of December
from the Williams, with only three days' provisions and, owing to some
mistake, had taken a south-south-west course and gone off in the
direction where we first saw his tracks, and had pursued this route for
three days, when, seeing nothing of the coast, he suspected he must be
wrong, and endeavoured to make a due west course; but from the impassable
nature of the mountain range at this point was unable