May 18.—­This morning we had to travel upon a soft heavy beach, and moved slowly and with difficulty along, and three of the horses were continually attempting to lie down on the road.  At twelve miles, we found some nice green grass, and although we could not procure water here, I determined to halt for the sake of the horses.  The weather was cool and pleasant.  From our camp Mount Ragged bore N. 35 degrees W., and the island we had seen for the last two days, E. 18 degrees S. Having seen some large kangaroos near our camp, I sent Wylie with the rifle to try and get one.  At dark he returned bringing home a young one, large enough for two good meals; upon this we feasted at night, and for once Wylie admitted that his belly was full.  He commenced by eating a pound and a half of horse-flesh, and a little bread, he then ate the entrails, paunch, liver, lights, tail, and two hind legs of the young kangaroo, next followed a penguin, that he had found dead upon the beach, upon this he forced down the whole of the hide of the kangaroo after singeing the hair off, and wound up this meal by swallowing the tough skin of the penguin; he then made a little fire, and laid down to sleep, and dream of the pleasures of eating, nor do I think he was ever happier in his life than at that moment.

May 19.—­The morning set in very cold and showery, with the wind from the southward, making us shiver terribly as we went along; luckily the country behind the sea-shore was at this place tolerably open, and we were for once enabled to leave the beach, and keep a little inland.  The soil was light and sandy, but tolerably fertile.  In places we found low brush, in others very handsome clumps of tea-tree scattered at intervals over some grassy tracts of country, giving a pleasing and park-like appearance we had long been strangers to.  The grass was green, and afforded a most grateful relief to the eye, accustomed heretofore to rest only upon the naked sands or the gloomy scrubs we had so long been travelling amongst.  Anxious if possible to give our horses a day or two’s rest, at such a grassy place, and especially as the many kangaroos we saw, gave us hope of obtaining food for ourselves also, I twice dug for water, but did not find any of such quality as we could use.  I was compelled therefore to turn in among the sand-hills of Point Malcolm, where I found excellent water at three and a half feet, and halted for the day, after a stage of five miles.  Unfortunately we were now beyond all grass, and had to send the horses by a long and difficult road to it, over steep sandy ridges, densely covered by scrub.  Upon halting, one of our horses lay down, appearing to be very ill, for two hours I could not get him to rise, and was sadly afraid he would die, which would have been a serious loss to us, for he was the strongest one we had left.  A little inside Point Malcolm, I found traces of Europeans who had slept on shore near the beach, and upon one of the tea-trees, I found cut “Ship Julian,