RETURN UP THE CREEK. 
147 
however, many ripe, although the runners were covered 
with flowers, and had an abundance of fruit upon them. 
In the morning, we sent the tinker on horseback up the 
creek, to ascertain how far the next water was from us, 
desiring him to keep the creek upon his right, and to follow 
his own track back again. He thought fit, however, con- 
sidering himself a good bushman, to wander away to his left, 
and the consequence was, that he soon lost himself. It 
would appear that he doubled and passed through some 
thick brush at the back of the camp, and at length found 
himself at dark on the banks of a considerable creek. In 
wandering along it, he luckily struck upon the natives we 
had last seen, who, good-naturedly, led him to the track of 
the dray, which his horse would not afterwards desert, and 
the tinker sneaked into the tent about 3 o’clock in the 
morning, having failed in his errand, and made himself the 
butt of the whole party. 
The day succeeding this adventure, we moved up the 
creek, which was, Tor the most part, even with the plain. 
The country continued the same as that we had passed 
over from the junction, being subject to flood, and having 
patches of bulrushes and reeds upon it. No change took 
place in the timber, but the line of acacia pendula, which 
forms the line of inundation, approached nearer to us ; nor 
was the mark of flood so high on the trunks of trees as below. 
We halted, with abominable water, but excellent food for 
the animals in the plains behind us. In continuing our 
journey, we found several changes take place in the appear- 
L 2 
