fe and well. Flood returned at 7, with information that the
bullock was dead, but night closed in without our seeing anything of
Morgan, and having nothing to eat we looked out rather anxiously for him.
The water on which we rested was at some little distance from the creek,
in a long narrow lagoon, but we had scarcely any shade from the intense
heat of the sun, the water being muddy, thick, and full of frogs and
crabs. I have observed upon the extreme and increasing heat that
prevailed at this time. Notwithstanding this, however, the night was so
bitterly cold that we were glad to put on anything to keep us warm. Our
situation may in some measure account for this extreme variation of
temperature, as we were in the bed of the creek which might yet have been
damp, as its surface had only just dried up; perhaps also from exposure
to such heat during the day we were more susceptible of the least change.
Be that as it may, certain it is that as morning dawned on this occasion,
when the thermometer stood at 67 degrees, we crept nearer to our fires
for warmth, and in less than six hours afterwards were in a temperature
of 104 degrees.

As we passed through the acacia scrub, we observed that the natives had
lately been engaged collecting the seed. The boughs of the trees were all
broken down, and there were numerous places where they had thrashed out
the seed, and heaped up the pods. These poor people must indeed be driven
to extremity if forced to subsist on such food, as its taste is so
disagreeable that one would hardly think their palates could ever be
reconciled to it. Natives had evidently been in our neighbourhood very
lately, but we saw none.

At this time I was exceedingly anxious both about Mr. Poole and Mr.
Browne, who were neither of them well. The former particularly complained
of great pain, and I regretted to observe that he was by no means strong.

About 10 o'clock on the morning of the last day of the year 1844, I was
with Tampawang at the head of the lagoon, trying to capture one of the
building rats, a nest of which we had found under a polygonum bush. We
had fired the fabric, and were waiting for the rats to bolt, when we saw
Morgan riding up to us. He stopped when he got to the water, and throwing
himself on the ground drank long at it. Seeing that he came without
anything for which he had been sent, I began to apprehend some
misfortune; but on questioning him I learnt that he had been at the
drays, and