EXCURSION INTO THE INTERIOR.

In the evening we made an excursion into the interior.  It was one vast unbroken level, covered with a strong and wiry grass, intersected with numerous watercourses, which the tide filled at high-water, there were also indications of more important, but less regular, visits from the sea.  Here and there a solitary tree assisted us in estimating the distance we had walked.  We saw two emus in this plain, which appeared also a favourite resort of quail and a bronze-winged pigeon.  We could not get within shot of the wary emus, but the quail and pigeons afforded us good sport, notwithstanding the ceaseless attacks of the mosquitoes, which swarmed in the long grass, and defied anything less impenetrable than Mackintosh leggings, encumbrances not desirable for a pedestrian with the thermometer at 87 degrees, particularly when worn over a pair of Flushing trousers.  Thus defended, I could, in some degree, defy these tormenting assailants, and at night, under the additional security afforded by a large painted coat, contrived to secure two or three hours of unbroken rest—­a luxury few of my companions enjoyed.

It was with much disappointment that we found the channel occupied, at low-water, by a mere rivulet, draining the extensive mud flats then left uncovered.  Hope, however, though somewhat sobered, was not altogether destroyed by this malapropos discovery, and we still looked forward with an interest but little abated, to the results of a complete survey of our new discovery.

March 9.

We moved on when the tide served, keeping close to the eastern bank of the river, where there appeared at low-water, the largest stream, then barely two feet deep.  Following the sinuosity of the shore, our general direction was south, and after we had thus proceeded two miles, we found the width of the river suddenly contract from three miles to one.  The banks were low and covered with a coarse grass.

NATIVES.

Here we saw three natives, stretching their long spare bodies over the bank, watching the leading boat with the fixed gaze of apparent terror and anxiety.  Sso rivetted was their attention, that they allowed my boat to approach unnoticed within a very short distance of them; but when they suddenly caught sight of it, they gave a yell of mingled astonishment and alarm, and flinging themselves back into the long grass, were almost instantly out of sight.  They were evidently greatly alarmed, and as Miago, whose presence might have given them confidence, was not with us, it seemed hopeless to attempt any communication with them, much as we should have liked to convince them, that these strange white creatures were of a race of beings formed like themselves, though even of our existence they could have had no previous idea.

EXPLORATION OF THE RIVER.