emed to them, as
poor Usborne went down, an approaching fray: however, the sight of the
two boats in the distance, which upon deploying they had full in view,
deterred them from acting upon any hostile intentions, supposing such to
have existed in their minds.

LOADED PISTOLS LEFT BEHIND.

The accident, however, and their sudden appearance, could only serve
additionally to flurry the little party who had to convey their disabled
officer to a place of safety, and Mr. Helpman, who may well be pardoned
the want of his usual self-possession at such a moment, left behind a
pair of loaded pistols. They would puzzle the savages greatly of course,
but I hope no ill consequences ensued: if they began pulling them about,
or put them in the fire, the better to separate the wood and iron, two or
three poor wretches might be killed or maimed for life, and their first
recollections of the Quibra men, as Miago calls us, would naturally be
anything but favourable.

Thus disastrously terminated our examination of Roebuck Bay, in which the
cheering reports of former navigators, no less than the tenor of our
hydrographical instructions had induced us to anticipate the discovery of
some great water-communication with the interior of this vast Continent.
A most thorough and careful search--in which everyone seemed animated by
one common and universal sentiment, prompting all to a zealous discharge
of duty--had clearly demonstrated that the hoped-for river must be sought
elsewhere: and that very fact which at first seemed to lessen the
probabilities of ultimate success, served rather to inspire than to
daunt; since while it could not shake our reliance upon the opinions of
those best qualified to decide, that such a river must ultimately be
discovered, it only narrowed the ground upon which energy, knowledge, and
perseverance had yet to undergo their probation, ere they enjoyed their
reward!

THE BOYL-YAS.

Our intercourse with the natives had been necessarily of the most limited
character, hardly amounting to anything beyond indulging them with the
sight of a new people, whose very existence, notwithstanding the
apathetic indifference with which they regarded us, must have appeared a
prodigy. What tradition may serve to hand down the memory of our visit to
the third generation, should no newer arrival correct its gathering
errors, and again restore some vestige of the truth, it is hardly
possible to imagine; but should any misfortune