e attacked them, had
they not precipitately retreated on being warned by the women that I was
arming my men, which I had only now done upon seeing such strong
manifestations of danger. M'Leay set the example of coolness on this
occasion; and I had some doubts whether I was justified in allowing the
natives to escape with impunity, considering that if they had wounded any
one of us the most melancholy and fatal results would have ensued.

We did not see anything more of the blacks during the rest of the day,
but the repeated indications of hostility we perceived as we approached
the Darling, made me apprehensive as to the reception we should meet from
its numerous population; and I was sorry to observe that the men
anticipated danger in passing that promising junction.

Having left the sea breezes behind us, the weather had become oppressive;
and as the current was stronger, and rapids more numerous, our labour was
proportionably increased. We perspired to an astonishing degree, and gave
up our oars after our turn at them, with shirts and clothes as wet as if
we had been in the water. Indeed Mulholland and Hopkinson, who worked
hard, poured a considerable quantity of perspiration from their shoes
after their task. The evil of this was that we were always chilled after
rowing, and, of course, suffered more than we should otherwise have done.

RE-PASS THE LINDESAY.

On the 25th we passed the last of the cliffs composing the great fossil
bed through which the Murray flows, and entered that low country already
described as being immediately above it. On a more attentive examination
of the distant interior, my opinion as to its flooded origin was
confirmed, more especially in reference to the country to the S.E. On the
30th we passed the mouth of the Lindesay, and from the summit of the sand
hills to the north of the Murray overlooked the flat country, through
which I conclude it must run, from the line of fires we observed amid the
trees, and most probably upon its banks.

We did not fall in with the natives in such numbers as when we passed down
to the coast: still they were in sufficient bodies to be troublesome.
It would, however, appear that the tribes do not generally frequent the
river. They must have a better country back from it, and most probably
linger amongst the lagoons and creeks where food is more abundant. The
fact is evident from the want of huts upon the banks of the Murray, and
the narrowness of the pat