CH. VII.] RESOLVE TO AVOID THE NATIVES. 293 



kangaroos around it, shewed how scarce this essential ele- 

 nient had become in the back country. At such small pools, 

 water becomes an object of desire and contest, and, so long 

 as it lasts, these spots in times of scarcity, are invariably 

 haunted by that omnivorous biped man, to whom both birds 

 and quadrupeds fall an easy prey. We, however, during a 

 sojourn of more than two months in the Australian wilderness, 

 had been abundantly supplied with the finest water, from 

 that extraordinary river which we had been tracing, and 

 without which those regions would be deserts, inaccessible to, 

 and uninhabitable by, either man or beast. 



Aug.b. — As the last journey had been a long one, and we 

 had some rough ground before us, we rested a day here, 

 while the blacksmith repaired one of the cart wheels. The 

 calls of the natives were heard very early in the morning, 

 and two fellows came to our men on the river, impudently 

 demanding tomahawks ; but little attention was paid to them, 

 and they did not visit the camp. We had no longer any 

 desire to communicate with the aborigines, for we had too 

 long, in vain, held out to them the olive branch, and made 

 them presents ; and as we could not hope to gain their 

 friendship, we were resolved to brook no longer the sight of 

 their burning brands and other gestures of hostility ; still 

 less were we inclined to give tomahawks on demand, since 

 our presents had not been received with that sense of obli- 

 gation, which might have been shewn by any class of human 

 beings, however savage. I, therefore, now determined to 

 avoid the natives wherever I could, and if they came near 

 the party, to encourage their approach as little as possible. 



Atig. 6. — We continued along our old route, but at about 

 seven miles we cut off a considerable angle in that point 

 of it, where we formerly saw the Puppy tribe, and were 

 thus enabled to pass two miles beyond our former ground, 

 and to pitch our tents near the river. At this encamp- 

 ment, we perceived smoke arising from the same native 

 bivouac, which I visited in my journey on horseback, before 



