Leaving everything as we found it, we passed on about two miles and
encamped for the night on a low sandy island in the bed of the river,
which was here full of flooded-gums of large growth, there being just
sufficient grass for our horses immediately around our fire. By 9 o'clock
our supper had been disposed of, and I had just completed my observations
for latitude, when we heard the shouts of a large party of natives
approaching from the direction of their camp; leaving Mr. Roe with two
others to guard the camp, I advanced with Mr. Moore and Dugel to
ascertain the object of their visit, which we soon found to be evidently
hostile, as they came on rapidly, all well armed to the number of sixty
or seventy, the women and children retiring to some rocky ground, while
the men advanced lighting the large stacks of drift which were abundant
in this part of the river. When within about forty yards they halted a
moment, as we had damped our fire and they could not exactly make out our
position. Mr. Moore was in the act of removing his horse from the front
when a fresh fire enabled them to see us, upon which ten or twelve of the
leading men shipped their spears. Being still desirous, if possible, of
avoiding a collision, I hesitated to fire upon them; but observing a
large body of them advancing with the evident intention of attacking Mr.
Roe and his little party in charge of the camp, I advanced a few steps
and fired a charge of small shot at the leading men as they were in the
act of throwing at us. The effect was instantaneous and most salutary, as
they fled with some precipitation, some of them being evidently wounded.
We mounted extra guard for the remainder of the night, but they did not
again venture to attack us.
9th May.
Being Sunday, we only moved a few miles lower down the river for more
grass, and again found ourselves in close proximity to the natives. In
the course of the day several of them made their appearance at the top of
the hill overlooking the camp, but appeared afraid to molest us; they had
with them several large white dogs which were evidently of Australian
breed.
10th May.
The river took a south-west course, receiving two large tributaries from
the south-east, one of ninety and the other of fifty yards in width. The
flats were wider and large trees more abundant; the recent floods had,
however, been very destructive to the pasture, and removed much of the
soil for a considerable distance back from the river. The trap hills here
ceased to appear; the last remarkable one lay about ten miles south-east
of our morning's camp, and had been named Mount Dalgetty. Our evening's
bivouac was found to be in latitude 25 degrees 14 minutes, longitude 115
degrees 30 minutes east by account, and its elevation 700 feet above the
sea.
11th May.
Until noon our course along the river was nearly north-west, sandstones
beginning to crop out on the banks, and the country generally was poor
and scrubby; from our noon halt to sunset our course was nearly west, our
bivouac being in latitude 25 degrees 2 minutes. The bed of the river had
here widened out to 300 yards with an average depth of thirty feet, a
small stream running through the sand in the bottom. In addition to the
flooded-gum which grows here abundantly, we observed in the bed of the
river a melaleuca of large size, like a paper-bark tree, but having broad
leaves resembling the eucalyptus. During the night the natives were very
noisy in the vicinity, some of them approaching so close as to startle
our horses, keeping us well on the alert; the horses on this as on
several other occasions appear to have been our principal safeguard
against sudden attack.