ty of diet and from
great bodily fatigue. Hopkinson, Mulholland, and Macnamee were
miserably reduced. The two former, especially, had exerted themselves
beyond their strength, and although I am confident they would have
obeyed my orders to the last, I did not feel myself justified,
considering the gigantic task we had before us, to impose additional
labour upon them.

It will be borne in mind that our difficulties were just about to
commence, when those of most other travellers have ceased; and that
instead of being assisted by the stream whose course we had followed,
we had now to contend against the united waters of the eastern ranges,
with diminished strength, and, in some measure, with disappointed
feelings.

Under the most favourable circumstances, it was improbable that the men
would be enabled to pull for many days longer in succession; since they
had not rested upon their oars for a single day, if I except our
passage across the lake, from the moment when we started from the
depot; nor was it possible for me to buoy them up with the hope even of
a momentary cessation from labour. We had calculated the time to which
our supply of provisions would last under the most favourable
circumstances, and it was only in the event of our pulling up against
the current, day after day, the same distance we had compassed with the
current in our favour, that we could hope they would last us as long as
we continued in the Murray. But in the event of floods, or any
unforeseen delay, in was impossible to calculate at what moment we
might be driven to extremity.

Independent of these casualties, there were other circumstances of
peril to be taken into consideration. As I have already observed, I
foresaw great danger in again running through the natives. I had every
reason to believe that many of the tribes with which we had
communicated on apparently friendly terms, regretted having allowed us
to pass unmolested; nor was I at all satisfied as to the treatment we
might receive from them, when unattended by the envoys who had once or
twice controlled their fury. Our best security, therefore, against the
attacks of the natives was celerity of movement; and the men themselves
seemed to be perfectly aware of the consequences of delay. Our
provisions, moreover, being calculated to last to a certain point only,
the slightest accident, the staving-in of the boat, or the rise of the
river, would inevitably be attended with calamity. To