I understood from The Widow that such tombs were
made for men and boys only, and that the ashes over the most recent one
were the remains of the hut which had been burnt and abandoned after the
murder of the person whose body was buried beneath had been avenged by
the tribe to whom the brother or relative keeping it company above ground
had belonged.

CHOOSE A POSITION FOR THE DEPOT.

May 22.

This morning the bullock-drivers gave so favourable an account of the
pasture that I determined to leave a depot there and to set out next
morning with the rest of the party for the Darling. The day was therefore
passed in making the necessary arrangements. I proposed leaving Mr.
Stapylton with eight trusty men; and to take with me the rest, consisting
of fifteen, including Burnett and Piper. I calculated on being absent
four weeks at most; and rations for the supply of the party for that time
were immediately weighed out and packed, along with our tents, in two
light carts which were to be drawn by five bullocks each. Thus I expected
to be able to travel fifteen miles a day; and to have the men in better
order for dealing with the fire-eaters of the Darling than when they were
all occupied as bullock-drivers, carters, etc. etc.

MY HORSE KILLED BY THE KICK OF A MARE.

May 23.

Before I got up this morning I was informed that the same unlucky mare
which had already caused the death of one of the horses had just broken
the thigh of my own horse; and thus I was forced to have it shot when it
was in better condition than usual, having been spared from working much
for some time that it might be fresh for this excursion. Such an
inauspicious event on the morning of my intended departure for the
Darling was by no means encouraging. I left The Widow at the depot camp,
having given directions that she should have rations and that every care
should be taken of the child whose broken limb had been set and bound to
a board in such a manner that the little patient could not, by moving,
disturb the bone in healing. Mr. Stapylton was aware of the necessity for
preventing The Widow from going back just then, lest she might have
fallen into the hands of any pilfering tribe likely to follow us. The
accident which had befallen Ballandella (of whom she was very fond) was
however likely to be a tie on her, at least until our return; for it
would have been very injurious to have moved the child in less than
several weeks. A stockyard was to b