Unaccustomed to impose the
least restraint upon their appetites or passions, they considered it a
hardship to be obliged to walk as long as any horses were left alive,
though they saw those horses falling behind and perishing from fatigue;
they considered it a hardship, too, to be curtailed in their allowance of
food, as long as a mouthful was left unconsumed; and in addition to this,
they had imbibed the overseer's idea that we never should succeed in our
attempt to get to the westward, and got daily more dissatisfied at
remaining idle in camp, whilst the horses were recruiting.

The excess of animal food they had had at their command for some few days
after the horse was killed, made them forget their former scarcity, and
in their folly they imagined that they could supply their own wants, and
get on better and more rapidly than we did, and they determined to
attempt it. Vexed as I had been at finding out they had not scrupled to
plunder the small stock of provisions we had left, I was loth to let them
leave me foolishly without making an effort to prevent it. One of them
had been with me a great length of time, and the other I had brought from
his country and his friends, and to both I felt bound by ties of humanity
to prevent if possible their taking the rash step they meditated; my
remonstrances and expostulations were however in vain, and after getting
their breakfasts, they took up some spears they had been carefully
preparing for the last two days, and walked sulkily from the camp in a
westerly direction. The youngest boy had, it seemed, also been enticed to
join them, for he was getting up with the intention of following, when I
called him back and detained him in the camp, as he was too young to know
what he was doing, and had only been led astray by the others. I had
intended to have moved on myself to-day, but the departure of the natives
made me change my intention, for I deemed it desirable that they should
have at least three or four days start of us. Finding that the single
sheep we had left would now be the cause of a good deal of trouble, I had
it killed this afternoon, that we might have the full advantage of it
whilst we had plenty of water, and might be enabled to hoard our bread a
little. We had still a little of the horse-flesh left, and made a point
of using it all up before the mutton was allowed to be touched.

The morning of the 23rd broke cool and cloudy, with showers gathering
from seawards;