path, so that we were obliged to
face it; and in two hours and a half I had forced my way through it. The
others followed, slowly emerging from the bush after me and, as we were
all totally exhausted, as well as dreadfully torn and bruised, we halted
at its edge for the night, and lighting our fires lay down to court that
repose we had so fairly earned. We had however only walked fifteen and a
half miles today.

April 4.

I again this morning used every effort to induce some more of the men to
abandon a portion of their loads. I represented to them their weak state,
the small supply of provisions they had with them, and the difficulty
they already found in keeping up with the party; but all these arguments
and every other I could make use of were unavailing; the tenacity with
which they clung to a worthless property, even at the risk of their
lives, is almost incredible, and it is to be borne in mind that this
property was not their own, but what they had taken from the wreck of the
boats. Did I even induce one to throw anything away another avaricious
fellow would pick it up; and their thoughts and conversation, instead of
running upon making the best of their way home and saying their lives,
consisted in conjectures as to what they would realize from their
ill-gotten and embarrassing booty.

SUPERIOR NATIVE PATH AND WELLS.

The course I pursued was one of 180 degrees and we soon fell in with the
native path which we had quitted yesterday; but it now became wide, well
beaten, and differing altogether by its permanent character from any I
had seen in the southern portion of this continent. For the first five
miles we traversed scrubby stony hills, thickly wooded with banksia
trees; but the limestone here again cropped out and we entered a very
fertile valley, running north and south and terminating in a larger one
which drained the country from east to west. This valley is remarkable as
containing one Xanthorrhoea (grass-tree) being the farthest point to the
north at which I have found this tree. In it also was a gigantic ant's
nest, being the most southerly one I had yet seen. All these
circumstances convinced me that we were about to enter a very interesting
region. And as we wound along the native path my wonder augmented; the
path increased in breadth and in its beaten appearance, whilst along the
side of it we found frequent wells, some of which were ten and twelve
feet deep and were altogether executed in a su