ead buffalo I did not
touch myself, but handed it over to the blacks, who were vastly impressed
by my prowess as a mighty hunter. They themselves had often tried to
kill buffalo with their spears, but had never succeeded. I removed the
bull's hide, and made a big rug out of it, which I found very serviceable
indeed in subsequent wet seasons. It was as hard as a board, and nearly
half an inch thick.

When I returned to "Captain Davis" and the rest of my friends at Raffles
Bay, I was quite well and strong once more, and I stayed with them three
or four months, hunting almost every day (there were even wild ponies and
English cattle--of course, relics of the old settlement), and picking up
all the information I could. I had many conversations with Davis
himself, and he told me that I should probably find white men at Port
Darwin, which he said was between three and four hundred miles away. The
tribe at Port Essington, I may mention, only numbered about fifty souls.
This was about the year 1868. Captain Davis--who was passionately fond
of tobacco, and would travel almost any distance to obtain an ounce or
two from the Malay _beche-de-mer_ fishers--pointed out to me a blazed
tree near his camp on which the following inscription was cut:--

LUDWIG LEICHHARDT,
Overland from Sydney,
1847.

It was therefore evident that this district had already been visited by a
white man; and the fact that he had come overland filled me with hopes
that some day I, too, might return to civilisation in the same way. The
English-speaking black chief assured me that his father had acted as
guide to Leichhardt, but whether the latter got back safely to Sydney
again he never knew. The white traveller, he said, left Port Essington
in a ship.

Having considered all things, I decided to attempt to reach Port Darwin
by boat, in the hope of finding Europeans living there. At first, I
thought of going overland, but in discussing my plans with "Captain
Davis," he told me that I would have to cross swamps, fords, creeks, and
rivers, some of which were alive with alligators. He advised me to go by
water, and also told me to be careful not to be drawn into a certain
large bay I should come across, because of the alligators that swarmed on
its shores. The bay that he warned me against was, I think, Van Dieman's
Gulf. He told me to keep straight across the bay, and then pass between
Melville Island and the main. He fitted me out with a good st