reasonable distance.

Prepared, however, as I was for a bad country, I was not prepared for
such as the natives described.

It was somewhat strange, that as we neared the supposed scene of the
slaughter of the overlanders, we should fail in obtaining intelligence
regarding it; neither were the natives, who must have participated in it,
so high up the river as we now were, afraid of approaching us, as they
undoubtedly would have been if they had been parties to it. I began,
therefore, to suspect that it was one of those reports which the natives
are, unaccountably, so fond of spreading without any apparent object in
view.

As we approached Williorara the course of the river upwards was somewhat
to the westward of north. The country had an improved appearance as we
ascended it, and grass seemed to be more generally distributed over the
flats. We passed several large lagoons, which had already been filled
from the river, and were much pleased with the picturesque scenery round
them.

On the 7th Jones broke the pole of his dray, and Morgan again broke his
shaft, but we managed to repair both without the loss of much time--and
made about ten miles of northing during the day.

We hereabouts shot several new birds; and the dogs killed a very fine
specimen of the Dipus of Mitchell, but, unfortunately, in the scuffle,
they mangled it so much that we could not preserve it.

On the 8th the weather was oppressively hot, but we managed to get on
some fifteen miles before we halted.

Our journey up the Darling had been of greater length than I had
anticipated, and it appeared to me that I could not do better than reduce
the ration of flour at this early stage of the expedition to provide the
more certainly for the future. I accordingly reduced it to eight pounds a
week, still continuing to the men their full allowance of meat and other
things.

Nadbuck had assured me on the 9th that if the bullocks did not put out
their tongues we should get to Laidley's Ponds that day, but I hardly
anticipated it myself, although I was aware we could not be many miles
from them.

We had a great many natives in the neighbourhood at our encampment of the
8th, but they did not approach the tents. Their families generally were
on the opposite side of the river, but one man had his lubra and two
children on our side of it. My attention was drawn to him, from his
perseverance in cutting a bark canoe, at which he laboured for more than
an hour