y
these means we should strike upon the articles we had lost. However
unlikely such a measure was to prove successful, we recovered in the
course of the afternoon, every thing but the still-head, and a cask of
paint. Whenever the oar struck against the substance that appeared, by
its sound or feel to belong to us, it was immediately pushed into the
sand, and the upper end of the oar being held by two men, another
descended by it to the bottom of the river, remaining under water as
long as he could, to ascertain what was immediately within arm's length
of him. This work was, as may be imagined, most laborious, and the men
at length became much exhausted. They would not, however, give up the
search for the still head, more especially after M'Leay, in diving, had
descended upon it. Had he, by ascertaining his position, left it to us
to heave it up, our labours would soon have ended; but, in his anxiety
for its recovery, he tried to bring it up, when finding it too heavy,
he let it go, and the current again swept it away.

At sunset, we were obliged to relinquish our task, the men complaining
of violent head-aches, which the nature of the day increased. Thinking
our own efforts would be unavailing, I directed two of the men to go up
the river for the blacks, at day-light in the morning, and set the
reeds on fire to attract their notice. The day had been cloudy and
sultry in the afternoon, the clouds collecting in the N.E.: we heard
the distant thunder, and expected to have been deluged with rain. None,
however, fell, although we were anxious for moisture to change the
oppressive state of the atmosphere. The fire I had kindled raged behind
us, and threw dense columns of smoke into the sky, that cast over the
landscape a shade of the most dismal gloom. We were not in a humour to
admire the picturesque, but soon betook ourselves to rest, and after
such a day of labour as that we had undergone, I dispensed with the
night guard.

PILFERING OF NATIVES.

In the morning we resumed our search for the still head, which
Hopkinson at length fortunately struck with his oar. It had been swept
considerably below the place at which M'Leay had dived, or we should
most probably have found it sooner. With its recovery, all our fatigues
were at once forgotten, and I ordered the breakfast to be got ready
preparatory to our reloading the skiff. Fraser and Mulholland, who had
left the camp at daylight, had not yet returned. I was sitting in th