; they may be sorcerers; now they will not eat
us as we sleep.'" Good, it is good, Kaiber," I replied; "come with me and
we will rob one hole." And accordingly we went and took the contents of
one, leaving three others undisturbed. I brought back these nuts to the
men and we shared them amongst us.

We were so weary that we did not start until late in the afternoon, and
then travelled south by east down the course of the river, making about
six miles. It was joined by many small tributaries and now became a
running stream flowing through a deep grassy valley in which were many
large flats. In the course of the afternoon some of the men had a shot at
a native dog; he was a fine fat fellow; but they were unsuccessful and
never did I feel more disappointed than when I saw him cantering away
desperately frightened but perfectly uninjured. I was sufficiently
fortunate to shoot a hawk just before nightfall, and we then halted by
the side of the river, lighted our fires, and laid down to sleep.

April 15.

In the course of the night I had cooked the hawk which I shot yesterday
and before starting divided it as follows: I gave the head, entrails, and
shanks to the native; then cutting the residue in half I gave one part to
Hackney, who had so generously shared his morsel of damper with me, and
kept the remaining portion for myself. Poor Hackney's wan and wasted
countenance glowed with pleasure when this acceptable gift was placed in
his hands, and I felt no slight degree of satisfaction in having an
opportunity of showing him that I felt grateful for his act of generosity
to me.

We now followed the course of the river for about two miles further and
saw a considerable quantity of good land along its banks, clothed with
feed for stock; but I cannot tell how far back this extends.

The river now ran away nearly due west under a low range of hills; and
still adhering to my original plan I quitted its banks and continued my
course straight for Perth, travelling in a south by east direction. The
next two and a half miles led us to the top of a low range. The whole
tract of country between this point and the river was arid and barren in
the extreme, being devoid of all vegetation but a stunted prickly scrub,
and on it we saw no signs either of animal life or water. We here for the
first time since quitting Moresby's Flat-topped Range saw that the one to
the east of us became well wooded, the interval between these two points
ha