plained to the savage, with Mr. Hume's
assistance, that I was highly pleased with him, and forthwith presented
him with a tomahawk and a clasp-knife. The tribe were perfectly aware of
the reason of my conduct, and all of them seemed highly delighted.

I was happy in having such an opportunity of showing the natives of the
interior that I came among them with a determination to maintain justice
in my communication with them, and to impress them, at the same time, with
a sense of our love of it in them. That they appreciated my apparent
lenity in not calling for the defaulter, I am sure, and I feel perfectly
conscious that I should have failed in my duty had I acted otherwise than
I did.

EFFECT OF FIRING A GUN.

Although the natives had shown so good a disposition, as they were
numerous, I thought it as well, since I was about to leave the camp, to
show them that I had a power they little dreamt of about me. I therefore
called for my gun and fired a ball into a tree. The effect of the report
upon the natives, was truly ridiculous. Some stood and stared at me,
others fell down, and others ran away; and it was with some difficulty we
collected them again. At last, however, we did so, and, leaving them to
pick out the ball, mounted our horses and struck away for the Darling.
We crossed the river a little above where we struck it, and then proceeded
N.W. into the interior.

EXCURSION ACROSS THE DARLING.

It is impossible for me to describe the nature of the country over which
we passed, for the first eight miles. We rode through brushes of
polygonum, under rough-gum, without a blade of vegetation, the whole space
being subject to inundation. We then got on small plains of firmer
surface, and red soil, but these soon changed again for the former; and
at 4 p.m. we found ourselves advanced about two miles on a plain that
stretched away before us, and bounded the horizon. It was dismally brown;
a few trees only served to mark the distance. Up one of the highest I sent
Hopkinson, who reported that he could not see the end of it, and that all
around looked blank and desolate. It is a singular fact, that during the
whole day, we had not seen a drop of water or a blade of grass.

DESOLATING EFFECTS OF THE DROUGHT.

To have stopped where we were, would, therefore, have been impossible; to
have advanced, would probably have been ruin. Had there been one favorable
circumstance to have encouraged me with the hope of success, I wo