292 THE " OCCA" tribe again. [cH. VII. 



attracted the attention of a gin, and she pointed it out to her 

 grey lord and master, who pronouncing the well known word 

 " Occa" (give), reminded us of the greedy tribe in whose 

 precincts we had now arrived, and which was, in fact, dis- 

 tinguished by the name of the " Occa boys", from their con- 

 stant use of the word, and coveting every thing they saw. 

 The old man, however, continued his journey down the river, 

 without obtainins; the kettle, or vet a knife, which he also 

 demanded from one of our men, whom he saw cutting tobacco. 



Aug. '3. — We continued in a northern direction, till we 

 cut upon the route to our last camp, and we thus avoided 

 two bad miles, without lengthening the journey to the next 

 of our former encampments, which we reached in good time, 

 to allow the cattle to feed. 



Ai/g. 4. — We set off about eight this morning, and reached 

 by five p. M. our encampment of the 12th and 13th of June. 

 On the way, the ranges on our right, as tliey rose in view, 

 afforded some relief to our eyes, so long accustomed to a ho- 

 rizon as flat as the ocean ; and a gentle, cooling breeze from 

 the east, felt very different from the parching west winds, to 

 which we had been exposed. This day and the one before, 

 were warm, and breathed most gratefully of spring. We 

 re-crossed a gravel bed of irregular fragments of quartz and 

 flint, at the base of some slitrht hills, which reach from the 

 range to the river. Between these undulations were soft 

 j)lains, the surface of which was cracked and full of holes ; 

 and it seemed that the torrents which fall from the hills, are 

 imbibed by this thirsty earth. As we approached our camp, 

 the dogs were sent after two emus, and at dusk one of them 

 returned having killed his bird, though we did not find it, 

 until early next morning. The emu came to hand, however, 

 in good time even then, for the men had been long living on 

 salt provisions. Our former lagoon had l)ecou)e a (puigmire 

 of mud, and we were forced to send for water from the river. 

 The pigeons and parrots which swarmed about this hole at 

 dusk, the quantity of featiiers, and the tracks of emus and 



