FRIENDLY NATIVES. 
269 
January 1, 184 i . — This morning I went down with 
the men to assist in watering the horses, and upon re- 
turning to the camp, found my black boy familiarly 
seated among a party of natives who had come up 
during our absence. Two of them were natives I had 
seen to the north-west, and had been among the party 
whose presence at the plains, on the 5th of December, 
when I was surrounded by so many difficulties, had 
proved so annoying to us at the time, and so fatal 
in its consequences to our horses. They recognised 
me at once, and apparently described to the other 
natives, the circumstances under which they had 
met me, lamenting most pathetically the death of 
the horses ; the dead bodies of which they had pro- 
bably seen in their route to the water. Upon 
examining their weapons they shewed us several 
that were headed with flint, telling us that they 
procured it to the north-west, thus confirming my 
previous conjectures as to the existence of flint in 
that direction. To our inquiries about water, they 
still persisted that there was none inland, and that it 
took them five days, from where we were, to travel 
to that at the head of the Bight. No other, they 
said, existed in any direction near us, except a small 
hole to the north-west, among some sand hills, about 
two miles off ; these they pointed out, and offered 
to go with me and shew me the place where the 
water was. I accepted the offer, and proceeded to 
the sand-drifts, accompanied by one of them. On 
our arrival he shewed me the remains of a large 
