leaving Harris and Hopkinson in charge of the camp; for as we
were to go towards the position of the natives, I thought it improbable
they would attack the camp without my being instantly aware of it.

We had, as I have said, intended starting at the earliest dawn, but the
night was so clear and refreshing, and the moon so bright that we
determined to avail ourselves of both, and accordingly left the tents
at 3 a.m. I directed Harris to strike them at 8, and to have every
thing in readiness for our departure at that hour. We then commenced
our excursion, and I led my companions rapidly along the shore of
Encounter Bay, after crossing the sand-hills about a mile below the
camp. After a hasty and distressing walk of about seven miles, we found
that the sand-hills terminated, and a low beach spread before us. The
day was just breaking, and at the distance of a mile from us we saw the
sand-hill I have already had occasion to notice, and at about a quarter
of a mile from its base, we were checked by the channel; which, as I
rightly conjectured, being stopped in its easterly course by some
rising ground, the tongue of land on which the blacks were posted,
suddenly turns south, and, striking this sand-hill, immediately enters
the sea; and we noticed, in the bight under the rising ground, that the
natives had lit a chain of small fires. This was, most probably, a
detached party watching our movements, as they could, from where they
were posted, see our camp.

At the time we arrived at the end of the channel, the tide had turned,
and was again setting in. The entrance appeared to me to be somewhat
less than a quarter of a mile in breadth. Under the sand-hill on the
off side, the water is deep and the current strong. No doubt, at high
tide, a part of the low beach we had traversed is covered. The mouth of
the channel is defended by a double line of breakers, amidst which, it
would be dangerous to venture, except in calm and summer weather; and
the line of foam is unbroken from one end of Encounter Bay to the
other. Thus were our fears of the impracticability and inutility of the
channel of communication between the lake and the ocean confirmed.

DIFFICULTIES AND DANGERS OF THE RETURN.

I would fain have lingered on my way, to examine, as far as
circumstances would permit, the beautiful country between the lake and
the ranges; and it was with heart-felt sorrow that I yielded to
necessity. My men were indeed very weak from pover