llocks, and was deeply thankful to the Almighty when I heard they
were all safe. I had suffered much from thirst, having been
forty-eight hours without water, and which had been increased by a
run of two miles after my horse, which attempted to follow the others;
and also from a severe pain in the head, produced by the impatient
brute's _jumping with its hobbled fore-feet on my forehead_, as I lay
asleep with the bridle in my hand; but after drinking three quarts of
cold tea, which John had brought with him, I soon recovered, and
assisted to load our horses with the remainder of our luggage, when we
returned to join our companions. The weather was very hot during the
day, but a cool breeze moved over the plains, and the night, as usual,
was very cold." It needed men of iron frame to endure, without serious
and frequent indisposition, such terrible privations and sudden
contrasts of temperature. Nevertheless, none of the party seem to have
suffered from illness produced by other causes than irregular and
hazardous diet, except in the case of the Doctor, who once or twice
had a touch of lumbago. These violent transitions from heat to cold
were felt during only a portion of their journey. Towards the middle
of the time, in the month of June, they were greatly favoured by
climate. "The state of our health showed how congenial it was to the
human constitution; for, without the comforts which the civilised man
thinks essentially necessary to life, without flour, without salt, and
miserably clothed, we were yet all in health, although at times
suffering much from weakness and fatigue. At night we stretched
ourselves upon the ground, almost as naked as the natives; and though
most of my companions still used their tents, it was amply proved
afterwards that the want of this luxury was attended with no ill
consequences." All things are comparative; and to the Doctor, whose
sole canopy during the whole expedition was the vault of heaven, the
canvass covering enjoyed by his comrades evidently appeared a
Sybaritical indulgence.

To return to the savages. The day after the retrograde movement of the
cattle to Ruined Castle Creek, and just as Dr Leichhardt was about to
start on a reconnoissance, the Blackfellows came down to where the
horses were grazing, and speared one of them in the shoulder. This was
the first act of hostility. The Australian aborigines are very
cowardly, and the aggressors hastily retreated into the bush on the