ore not searched the plains which lay
between us and the sea, indeed I felt fully convinced that the swamps we
saw were all perfectly dry and the native coincided in my opinion; about
an hour before sunset however we descended towards the plains, and
turning due west we reached them in about half an hour, but found all the
swamps quite destitute of water. As soon as it became dark I lit my fire
and laid down by it, advising the others to pursue the same course and to
preserve their energies for the morrow. But such advice was thrown away
upon men almost perishing with thirst, and every now and then throughout
the night I heard their weak husky voices as they wandered from swamp to
swamp in the neighbourhood, digging holes with pointed sticks in a vain
search.

NATIVE SONGS.

Poor Kaiber alone lay crouching by my fire, occasionally feeding it with
fresh fuel and chanting to himself these two songs, in his own language:

Thither, mother oh, I return again,
Thither oh, I return again.

The other had been sung by the mother of Miago, a native who had
accompanied Captain Wickham in the Beagle from the Swan River, and it had
made a great impression on the natives.

Whither does that lone ship wander,
My young son I shall never see again.
Whither does that lone ship wander.

EXTREME FEEBLENESS OF THE PARTY.

The night wore heavily on; sleepless sufferers were around me, and I
myself began to feel very anxious as to what the next day might bring.
The men had now been already one night and two days without tasting a
single drop of water or food of any kind whatever, for as the only
provisions they had left was a spoonful or two of flour each it was
impossible for them to cook this without water; indeed only two of them
had even this small supply of flour left, and the rest were wholly
destitute.

I personally suffered far less than any of the others with the exception
of the native, and this for several reasons. In the first place I had
been long accustomed to subsist on a very small quantity of water, and
secondly I had always kept my mind occupied and amused instead of giving
way to desponding or gloomy thoughts. When we halted and the others laid
wearily down, brooding over their melancholy situation, I employed myself
in writing up my journal, which was most scrupulously kept; and this duty
being concluded I had recourse to a small New Testament, my companion
throughout all my wanderings, and from this latter I dr