GIFT OF A TOMAHAWK. 
115 
suading a fine athletic looking man to approach 
within a moderate distance ; I then shewed him a 
tomahawk, which I laid on the ground, making 
signs that I intended it for him. When I had 
retired a little, he went and took it up, evidently 
comprehending its use, and appearing much pleased 
with the gift ; the others soon congregated around 
him, and Mr. Scott and I mounting our horses, 
followed the party, leaving the sable council to 
discuss the merits of their new acquisition, and 
hoping that the unfavourable opinion with which 
we had at first impressed them, would be somewhat 
modified for the future. 
Steering N. 43° W. for five miles, and then wind- 
ing through the range, in the bed of a watercourse 
to the plains on the other side, we took a direction of 
E. 20° N. for fifteen miles, arriving about dark upon 
a small channel that I had crossed on the 14th of 
August. Here was good feed for the horses, and 
plenty of water a little way up among the hills. 
This watercourse I had not examined when I was here 
before, preferring to trace up the larger one beyond 
instead. Had I followed this, I should easily have 
found water, and been relieved from much of the 
anxiety which I had then undergone. 
In travelling through a country previously unex- 
plored, no pains should be spared in examining 
every spot, even the most unlikely, where it is possi- 
ble for water to exist, for after searching in vain, in 
large deep rocky and likely looking watercourses, 
i 2 
