circumstances. The men were completely sunk. We were still
between eighty and ninety miles from Pondebadgery, in a direct line, and
nearly treble that distance by water. The task was greater than we could
perform, and our provisions were insufficient. In this extremity I thought
it best to save the men the mortification of yielding, by abandoning the
boat; and on further consideration, I determined on sending Hopkinson and
Mulholland, whose devotion, intelligence, and indefatigable spirits,
I well knew, forward to the plain.

The joy this intimation spread was universal, Both Hopkinson and
Mulholland readily undertook the journey, and I, accordingly, prepared
orders for them to start by the earliest dawn. It was not without a
feeling of sorrow that I witnessed the departure of these two men, to
encounter a fatiguing march. I had no fears as to their gaining the plain,
if their reduced state would permit them. On the other hand, I hoped they
would fall in with our old friend the black, or that they would meet the
drays; and I could not but admire the spirit and energy they both
displayed upon the occasion. Their behaviour throughout had been such as
to awaken in my breast a feeling of the highest approbation. Their
conduct, indeed, exceeded all praise, nor did they hesitate one moment
when I called upon them to undertake this last trying duty, after such
continued exertion. I am sure the reader will forgive me for bringing
under his notice the generous efforts of these two men; by me it can never
be forgotten.

ABANDON AND BURN THE BOAT.

Six days had passed since their departure; we remaining encamped. M'Leay
and myself had made some short excursions, but without any result worthy
of notice. A group of sand-hills rose in the midst of the alluvial
deposits, about a quarter of a mile from the tents, that were covered with
coarse grasses and banksias. We shot several intertropical birds feeding
in the latter, and sucking the honey from their flowers. I had, in the
mean time, directed Clayton to make some plant cases of the upper planks
of the boat, and then to set fire to her, for she was wholly
unserviceable, and I felt a reluctance to leave her like a neglected log
on the water. The last ounce of flour had been served out to the men, and
the whole of it was consumed on the sixth day from that on which we had
abandoned the boat. I had calculated on seeing Hopkinson again in eight
days, but as the morrow would see us wi