on the Upper Murchison.

Since quitting the mouth of the Gascoyne we had seen natives almost
daily; to-night we again found ourselves in close proximity to a large
encampment of them.

2nd June.

Our neighbours paid us an early visit this morning, some of them
evidently bent on mischief, but were restrained by others more
prudent--not, however, before it had nearly cost one of them his life;
having pointed a spear at Mr. Moore, Dugel, whose natural instincts are
very destructive, hastily took aim at him, but fortunately pulled the
wrong trigger, which just gave his adversary time to lower his weapon; on
our mounting our horses they hastily fell back and joined their other
companions at their camp, which was just in our line of march; about
thirty of them awaited our approach with some tokens of defiance, but
most of them decamped on our coming within spear's throw.

MOUNT AUGUSTUS 3,480 FEET ABOVE SEA LEVEL.

Directing our course for Mount Augustus, we pushed on at a rapid pace
with the object of ascending it if possible before sundown; but after
riding twenty miles, we found it to be farther off than we anticipated,
and accordingly altered our course and encamped at a pool in the river
about three miles north-east of the mount, in latitude 24 degrees 20
minutes, and at an elevation of 1500 feet above the sea.

We here met with strong evidences of the cannibalism of the natives; at a
recently occupied encampment we found several of the bones of a
full-grown native that had been cooked, the teeth marks on the edges of a
bladebone bearing conclusive evidence as to the purpose to which it had
been applied; some of the ribs were lying by the huts with a portion of
the meat still on them.

Nearly the whole of the country passed over this day was an alluvial flat
extending on the south-west to the grassy range already described, while
to the north and east it extended for many miles, branching out into the
numerous valleys that drain the different ranges in that direction; the
grass and vegetation on these flats is not so rank as on that traversed
the previous day, but more even, and the soil better adapted for
agriculture; the amount of good land on this part of the Lyons River was
estimated at 150 square miles, while on the tributaries between Mount
Thompson and Mount Augustus I have no doubt that there is as much more.
Water at this time was plentiful in the numerous channels that intersect
the plain, their perman