476 
CAPTAIN STURT’S REPORT. 
“ I have great pleasure in reporting to you the continued zeal 
and anxiety of my officers, and the "cheerful assistance they 
render me. I have found Mr. Piesse of great value, from his 
regular and cautious issue of the stores and provisions ; and 
Mr. Stewart extremely useful as draftsman. Amongst my men, 
I have to particularise Robert Flood, my stockman, whose 
attention to the horses and cattle has mainly insured their fit- 
ness for service and good condition ; and I have every reason to 
feel satisfied with the manner in which the men generally per- 
form their duties. 
“ I have to apologize for the hurried manner in which this 
letter is written, and beg to subscribe myself, 
“ Sir, your most obedient servant, 
“CHARLES STURT.” 
With reference to the above report, I may mention 
in explanation, that, after I had accompanied the 
exploring party as far as the Rufus, and returned 
from thence to Moor unde, a rumour was brought to 
Captain Sturt by some natives from the Darling, of a 
massacre said to have taken place up that river 
near Laidley’s Ponds. From being quite unac- 
quainted with the language not only of the Darling 
natives, but also of the Rufus interpreter or the 
Moorunde boy, Captain Sturt’s party had been only 
able to make out the story that was told to them by 
signs or by the aid of such few words of English as 
the boy might have learnt at Moorunde. They had 
naturally fallen into some error, and had imagined 
the natives to be describing the recent murder of a 
European party coming down the Darling with stock, 
instead of their narrating, as was in reality the case, 
