vious to me that they were much reduced. It
will be borne in mind, that we were now performing the earliest part of
our task, and were going down with the stream. I was sure that on our
return, (For I had no hopes of meeting any vessel on the coast,) we
should have to make every day's journey good against the current; and,
if the men were now beginning to sink, it might well be doubted whether
their strength would hold out. Both M'Leay and myself, therefore,
encouraged any cheerfulness that occasionally broke out among them, and
Frazer enlivened them by sundry tunes that he whistled whilst employed
in skinning birds. I am sure, no galley-slave ever took to his oar with
more reluctance than poor Frazer. He was indefatigable in most things,
but he could not endure the oar.

NATIVES BECOME UNRULY.

We did not fall in with any natives on the 30th, neither did we see
those who had preceded us from the last tribe. On the 31st, to my
mortification, the river held so much to the northward, that we undid
almost all our southing. What with its regular turns, and its extensive
sweeps, the Murray covers treble the ground, at a moderate computation,
that it would occupy in a direct course; and we had a practical
instance of the truth of this in the course of the afternoon, when we
found our friends ready to introduce us to a large assemblage of
natives. On asking them how they had passed us, they pointed directly
east to the spot at which we had parted. By crossing from one angle of
the river to the other, they had performed in little more than half a
day, a journey which it had taken us two long days to accomplish. After
our usual distribution of presents, we pushed away from the bank;
though not without some difficulty, in consequence of the obstinacy of
the natives in wishing to detain us; and I was exceedingly vexed to
find, while we were yet in sight of them, that we had proceeded down a
shallow channel on one side of an island instead of the further and
deeper one; so that the boat ultimately grounded. A crowd of the blacks
rushed into the water, and surrounded us on every side. Some came to
assist us, others, under a pretence of assisting, pulled against us,
and I was at length obliged to repel them by threats. A good many of
them were very much disposed to annoy us, and, after the boat was in
deep water, some of them became quite infuriated, because we would not
return. Had we been within distance, they would assuredly have