of being forced, in self-defence, to have a deadly encounter, when
suddenly the four natives who had accompanied them appeared running at
full speed, and, through their assistance, though not without some
difficulty, bloodshed was prevented. Very shortly after this adventure,
when the men had just pushed their boat off from a shoal, upon which it
had struck, they noticed a new and considerable stream coming from the
north, and uniting its waters with those of the Murray. Upon landing on
the right bank of the newly-discovered stream, the natives came swimming
over from motives of curiosity; and there were not less than 600 of
these, belonging to some of the most ferocious tribes in Australia,
surrounding eight Englishmen--Captain Sturt, his friend M'Leay, and the
crew--which last had been preserved by an almost miraculous intervention
of Providence in their favour. The boat was afterwards pulled a few
miles up the recently-discovered river, which is reasonably supposed to
have been the Darling, from whose banks, some hundreds of miles higher
up, Captain Sturt had twice been forced to retire in a former
expedition. Its sides were sloping and grassy, and overhung by
magnificent trees; in breadth it was about 100 yards, and in depth
rather more than twelve feet, and the men pleased themselves by
exclaiming, upon entering it, that they had got into an English river. A
net extending right across the stream at length checked their progress;
for they were unwilling to disappoint the numbers who were expecting
their food that day from this source. So the men rested on their oars in
the midst of the smooth current of the Darling, the Union-Jack was
hoisted, and, giving way to their feelings, all stood up in the boat,
and gave three distinct cheers. "The eye of every native along the
banks had been fixed upon that noble flag, at all times a beautiful
object," says Captain Sturt, "and to them a novel one, as it waved
over us in the heart of a desert. They had, until that moment, been
particularly loquacious, but the sight of that flag and the sound
of our voices hushed the tumult; and while they were still lost in
astonishment, the boat's head was speedily turned, the sail was sheeted
home, both wind and current were in our favour, and we vanished from
them with a rapidity that surprised even ourselves, and which precluded
every hope of the most adventurous among them to keep up with us."[25]

[25] Sturt's Expeditions in Australia