At the next open bank on the eastern side we put ashore to give the boat’s crew an opportunity of getting their dinner, and as we landed I discharged my fowling-piece at some birds; upon ascending the bank we found that the report of the gun had alarmed four natives, two of whom were females with children on their backs; they were retreating in haste towards a smoke, the fire of which was concealed from us by high grass:  as soon as they reached the fire they stopped and began to call out in loud shrill tones, when they were soon surrounded by twenty-five natives who immediately commenced hallooing and shouting to us in a menacing way; after some consultation two of them advanced armed with spears; upon which I ordered a musket to be brought from the boat, which was concealed from their view by the bank of the river; seeing this the Indians stopped and retreated to their party, who immediately set up a yell of loud and angry cries accompanied with the most furious gesticulations.  As the tide was still flowing and I was not very anxious to communicate with these people, from whose neighbours at Goulburn Island we had already experienced much treachery, and who, if inclined to be quarrelsome, might, from the small breadth of the river, considerably annoy and impede our farther progress, we re-embarked and proceeded up the river under the momentary expectation of either seeing or hearing them at every bend and open bank; we were not, however, molested; and at sunset, as we had reached a considerable distance from their encampment, and had not seen any alligators, we landed to pass the night upon the shore, and soon pitched our tent.  We had, however, no sooner refreshed and composed ourselves to rest than we were alarmed by a loud shout, and upon listening attentively it was again heard.  It was now our firm opinion that we had landed in the vicinity of another tribe, who upon seeing our fire had alarmed their companions.

The muskets were therefore placed in readiness and a watch set to give our party warning if they approached.  In the middle of the night the noise was again heard, but upon being repeated several times it was discovered that we had been deceived by the screams of a bird whose note exactly resembled the human cry.  Our fears of being attacked by the natives being now dispelled, our party composed themselves again to rest, but without obtaining any sleep in consequence of the immense swarms of mosquitoes, which buzzing about in incredible numbers were not to be kept from stinging us by any measures we could devise.  The tent was very soon deserted and many other places were tried in vain; the only method at all successful, by which some respite was obtained, was by lying upon the ground within two feet of the blaze of the fire; the heat and smoke of which, with the danger of our clothes catching fire, were insignificant inconveniences compared with the mosquitoes’ stings; and those only who placed themselves in this situation obtained a few hours’ sleep.