, a slow full
whistle, by five or six successive half-notes; which was very pleasing,
and frequently the only relief while passing through this most perplexing
country. The bullock was killed in the afternoon of the 20th, and on the
21st the meat was cut up and put out to dry; the afternoon was very
favourable for this purpose; but, at night rain set in, and with the
sultry weather rendered the meat very bad. The mornings were generally
sultry and cloudy; during the afternoon the clouds cleared off with the
sea-breeze: and towards sunset thunder-storms rose, and the nights were
rainy, which prevented me from making observations to ascertain my
latitude. The longitude of the descent, was, according to reckoning, 132
degrees 50 minutes. A little before sunset of the 21st four natives came
to our camp; they made us presents of red ochre, which they seemed to
value highly, of a spear and a spear's head made of baked sandstone (GRES
LUSTRE). In return I gave them a few nails; and as I was under the
necessity of parting with every thing heavy which was not of immediate
use for our support, I also gave them my geological hammer. One of the
natives was a tall, but slim man; the others were of smaller size, but
all had a mild and pleasing expression of countenance.

Large fish betrayed their presence in the deep water by splashing during
the night: and Charley asserted that he had seen the tracks of a
crocodile. Swarms of whistling ducks occupied the large ponds in the
creek: but our shot was all used, and the small iron-pebbles which were
used as a substitute, were not heavy enough to kill even a duck. Some
balls, however, were still left, but these we kept for occasions of
urgent necessity.

Nov. 22.--As our meat was not sufficiently dry for packing we remained
here the whole of this day; but, at night, the heaviest thunder-storm we
perhaps had ever experienced, poured down and again wetted it; we
succeeded, however, notwithstanding this interruption, in drying it
without much taint; but its soft state enabled the maggots to nestle in
it; and the rain to which it had been exposed, rendered it very insipid.

Poor Redmond, the last of our bullocks, came frequently to the spot where
his late companion had been killed; but finding that he was gone, he
returned to his abundant feed, and when I loaded him to continue our
journey down the river he was full and sleek. It was interesting to
observe how the bullocks on all previous oc