umstances, and it was
only in the event of our pulling up against the current, day after day,
the same distance we had compassed with the current in our favour, that we
could hope they would last us as long as we continued in the Murray.
But in the event of floods, or any unforeseen delay, in was impossible
to calculate at what moment we might be driven to extremity.

Independent of these casualties, there were other circumstances of peril
to be taken into consideration. As I have already observed, I foresaw
great danger in again running through the natives. I had every reason to
believe that many of the tribes with which we had communicated on
apparently friendly terms, regretted having allowed us to pass unmolested;
nor was I at all satisfied as to the treatment we might receive from them,
when unattended by the envoys who had once or twice controlled their fury.
Our best security, therefore, against the attacks of the natives was
celerity of movement; and the men themselves seemed to be perfectly aware
of the consequences of delay. Our provisions, moreover, being calculated
to last to a certain point only, the slightest accident, the staving-in
of the boat, or the rise of the river, would inevitably be attended with
calamity. To think of reducing our rations of only three quarters of a
pound of flour per diem, was out of the question, or to hope that the men,
with less sustenance than that, would perform the work necessary to ensure
their safety, would have been unreasonable. It was better that our
provisions should hold out to a place from which we might abandon the boat
with some prospect of reaching by an effort a stock station, or the plain
on which Robert Harris was to await our return, than that they should be
consumed before the half of our homeward journey should be accomplished.
Delay, therefore, under our circumstances, would have been imprudent
and unjustifiable.

PATIENCE OF THE MEN--RE-ENTER THE MURRAY.
On the other hand, it was sufficiently evident to me, that the men were
too much exhausted to perform the task that was before them without
assistance, and that it would be necessary both for M'Leay and myself,
to take our share of labour at the oars. The cheerfulness and satisfaction
that my young friend evinced at the opportunity that was thus afforded him
of making himself useful, and of relieving those under him from some
portion of their toil, at the same time that they increased my sincere
esteem