REUNION OF THE BOATS. 91 



the chronometers: I found that one by French, which 

 I had worn in my pocket, had gone most admirably. 

 Captain Wickham joined us in the gig after dark. 

 The evening was cloudy, and we had a sharp squall at 

 midnight from south-east. 



November 14. —Both boats were moved off down 

 the river at daylight, and ere it had passed away, 

 the ford above Steep Head was left behind. We 

 found that the watering boats had not got over the 

 shallow below, so that we spent the night together ; 

 and a merry party we made. We talked over all 

 we had seen, and the hills that rose around echoed 

 back for the first time the laugh and the song of 

 civilized man, and our strange language was re- 

 peated as glibly by the rocks of Australia as if they 

 were those of our own native land. So true is it 

 that nature is ever ready to commune familiarly 

 with us, whereas by our very brethren we are looked 

 upon as enemies to shun, and are incapable of 

 making ourselves understood by them. When the 

 morning of the 15th broke it was discovered that 

 one of the men belonging to the watering party had 

 deserted during the night. He had been guilty of 

 this offence once before, in order to steal the spirits 

 which had been buried for the use of my exploring 

 party. What however could have induced him to 

 take this step a second time — risking, without 

 any apparent motive, the danger of being left 

 on a strange, and almost uninhabited coast, it 

 would be difficult even to suggest. Parties were 



