174 
inspection of the channel. 
with the sea, and to ascertain the features of the coast at 
that important point. I was reluctant to exhaust the 
strength of the men in dragging the boat over the number- 
less flats that were before us, and made up my mind to 
walk along- the shore until 1 should gain the outlet. I at 
length arranged that M'Leay, I, and Fraser, should start 
on this excursion, at the earliest dawn, leaving Harris and 
Hopkinson in charge of the camp; for as we were to go 
towards the position of the natives, I thought it improbable 
they would attack the camp without my being instantly 
aware of it. 
We had, as I have said, intended starting at the earliest 
dawn, but the night was so clear and refreshing, and the 
moon so bright that we determined to avail ourselves of 
both, and accordingly left the tents at 3 a.m. I directed 
Harris to strike them at 8, and to have every thing in rea- 
diness for our departure at that hour. We then com- 
menced our excursion, and I led my companions rapidly 
along the shore of Encounter Bay, after crossing the sand 
hills about a mile below the camp. After a hasty and dis- 
tressing walk of about seven miles, we found that the sand 
hills terminated, and a low beach spread before us. The 
day was just bieaking, and at the distance of a mile from 
us we saw the sand-hill I have already had occasion to no- 
tice, and at about a quarter of a mile from its base, we were 
checked by the channel; which, as I rightly conjectured, 
being stopped in its easterly course by some rising ground 
the tongue of land on which the blacks were posted, sud- 
