ey
had, more sensibly felt than the coarse quality of the vivers. Their
scanty wardrobe threatened to fail them; and, already reduced to the
produce of the forest for their daily food, it appeared by no means
improbable they would have to resort to the same primitive source for
raiment to cover their nakedness. "The few shirts we had with us
became so worn and threadbare, that the slightest tension would tear
them. To find materials for mending the body, we had to cut off the
sleeves; and when these were used, pieces were taken from the lower
part of the shirt to mend the upper. Our trousers became equally
patched, and the want of soap prevented us from washing them clean."
Worse than this, inflammation, boils, and prickly heat, tormented the
travellers, and their cattle showed symptoms of breaking down. At
first, there were plenty of spare horses, but these had perished from
accidents and disease; those which remained became daily weaker from
over-work and want of water, and were sore-footed and tired from
travelling over rocky ranges, their shoes, useless in the grass-land,
having been long since removed. Leichhardt, who, on reaching the gulf,
had sanguinely hoped the worst of the journey over, soon found his
mistake. Bad enough before, it was far worse now, and too much praise
can hardly be accorded to the cheerful courage with which the Doctor
endured hardships, wrestled with difficulties, sustained the spirits
of his companions, and pressed on over all obstacles, to the
termination of his long and weary pilgrimage. It was now (at the
beginning of December) not very distant. "Whilst we, were waiting for
our bullock," (they were reduced to their last, which they were
unwilling to kill, and took to Port Essington) "which had returned to
the running brook, a fine native stepped out of the forest with the
ease and grace of an Apollo, with a smiling countenance, and with the
confidence of a man to whom the whiteface was perfectly familiar. He
was unarmed, but a great number of his companions were keeping back to
watch the reception he should meet with. We received him, of course,
most cordially; and upon being joined by another good-looking little
man, we heard him utter distinctly, the words '_Commandant_!' '_Come
here!_' 'Very _good!_' '_What's your name?_' If my readers have at all
identified themselves with my feelings throughout this trying journey,
if they have imagined only a tithe of the difficulties we have
enco