d been shared out; twenty pounds of flour and one pound of salt
provisions per man, being all that was left. What I have here designated
by the name of flour was quite unworthy of being so called. It was of a
dark yellowish brown colour, and had such a sour fermented taste that
nothing but absolute necessity could induce anyone to eat it. The party
however were in high spirits; they talked of a walk of three hundred
miles in a direct line through the country (without taking hills,
valleys, and necessary deviations into account) as a trifle, and in
imagination were already feasting at home and taking their ease after the
toils they had undergone.

I gave them all warning of the many difficulties they had yet to
encounter, and did this not with the intention of damping their ardour
but in the hope of inducing them to abandon some portion of the loads
they intended to carry. I entrusted a small pocket chronometer to Mr.
Walker, and another to Corporals Coles and Auger; and to Ruston I gave
charge of a pocket-sextant which belonged to the Surveyor-General at
Perth. Coles and Auger also undertook to carry a large sextant, turn
about; all my own papers, such charts as I thought necessary, and some
smaller instruments I bore myself; but Kaiber, in order to relieve me,
took charge of my gun and some other articles. Mr. Smith carried his
sketchbook and box of colours. I ought here to state that, in all the
difficulties which beset those individuals to whom I entrusted anything,
they never, except on one occasion, and by my orders, abandoned it:
indeed I do not believe that there is a stronger instance of fidelity and
perseverance than was evinced by some of the party in retaining, under
every difficulty, possession of that which they had promised to preserve
for me.

PICTURESQUE HALTING-PLACE.

Our loads having been hoisted on our shoulders away we moved. I had
before chosen my line of route, and the plan I had resolved to adopt was
to walk on slowly but continuously for an hour, and then to halt for ten
minutes; during which interval of time the men could rest and relieve
themselves from the weight of their burdens whilst I could enter what
notes and bearings I had taken during the preceding hour.

We were embarrassed for the first portion of our journey this afternoon
by a thick scrub, through which we could only make our way with great
difficulty, but on coming to a watercourse running into the southern part
of Gantheaume