men were quite exhausted, and, as they had conducted
themselves so well, and had been so patient, I felt myself obliged to
grant them every indulgence consistent with our safety. However precarious
our situation, it would have been vain, with our exhausted strength, to
have contended against the elements. We, therefore, pulled in to the left
bank of the river, and pitched our tents on a little rising ground beyond
the reeds that lined it.

CHRONOMETER BROKEN.

I had been suffering very much front tooth-ache for the last three or four
days, and this day felt the most violent pain from the wind. I was not,
therefore, sorry to get under even the poor shelter our tents afforded.
M'Leay, observing that I was in considerable pain, undertook to wind up
the chronometer; but, not understanding or knowing the instrument, he
unfortunately broke the spring. I shall not forget the anxiety he
expressed, and the regret he felt on the occasion; nor do I think M'Leay
recovered the shock this unlucky accident gave him for two or three days,
or until the novelty of other scenes drove it from his recollection.

We landed close to the haunt of a small tribe of natives, who came to us
with the most perfect confidence, and assisted the men in their
occupations. They were cleaner and more healthy than any tribe we had
seen; and were extremely cheerful, although reserved in some respects.
As a mark of more than usual cleanliness, the women had mats of oval
shape, upon which they sat, made, apparently, of rushes. There was a
young girl among them of a most cheerful disposition. She was about
eighteen, was well made, and really pretty. This girl was married to an
elderly man who had broken his leg, which having united in a bent shape,
the limb was almost useless. I really believe the girl thought we could
cure her husband, from her importunate manner to us. I regretted that I
could do nothing for the man, but to show that I was not inattentive to
her entreaties, I gave him a pair of trousers, and desired Fraser to put
them upon him; but the poor fellow cut so awkward an appearance in them,
that his wife became quite distressed, and Fraser was obliged speedily
to disencumber him from them again.

We could not gain any satisfactory information, as to the termination of
the river, from these people. It was evident that some change was at hand;
but what it was we could not ascertain.

APPEARANCE OF SOME APPROACHING CHANGE.

On the morning of th