f from the land, say three or four miles; after
consultation with the Captain and Jackey, our main guide, we determined
on going on shore at the place pointed out by Jackey before daylight on
the following morning; during this afternoon several fires, about five,
were in sight along the coast in the bay, and not many natives seen; I
saw five; after a time it had been determined who should be the party to
go to recover the three men. The Captain, Jackey, Barrett, Thomas (the
sailor), and myself, formed the party. The evening was employed in
getting our guns in good order for the morrow. The Captain thought he
observed on shore natives with wearing apparel on.

Wednesday, 27th December, 1848.

At three o'clock A.M., the Captain called me, and such had been the
preparation last night that in a quarter of an hour we were in the
longboat, steering for the shore, and just as daylight was peeping we
were near the shore in shallow water, and a fire sprung up nearly in
front of us a little way in from the beach. The boat struck on the
ground, and we waded through the water for about a hundred yards or more
knee deep. Jackey took the lead, the Captain and I following, Barrett and
Tom behind, and mounted the low scrubby cliff about two hundred yards
from where we saw the fire. On we trudged through dense scrub inland for
about an hour, When Jackey said we must go further up that way, pointing
more in the south part of the bay; that is where I want to go, said he,
and that we had better cross there in the boat and recommence the trip.
On reaching the coast we hailed the boat, which was anchored off a
little, and waded out to it. Having seen a great smoke last evening and
apparently one this morning, some distance beyond where Jackey wished us
to land, he was asked if we should go first to this native fire and camp,
and see if they have anything there belonging to the three men, and
Jackey said, yes. We proceeded there, a distance of about four miles to
the southernmost part of the bay, and landed, but could discover only the
remains of a bushfire and no camp; we now left this part and proceeded to
exactly where Jackey pointed out on the beach, more in the central part
of the bay, some three miles across, and landed, telling the men in the
boat to anchor a little higher up to the north, where Jackey said we
should come out at by-and-bye. We left word with the men in the boat that
we might be away for three hours or more, and that we