t. No inducements upon my part could however persuade him to take
charge of it. It was in vain that I urged on him the well known fact that
nothing encourages men in a long journey so much as knowing the exact
distance they have travelled and what extent of country they have still
left to traverse. It was in vain that I assured him he would, from his
inexperience in calculating distances in the bush, soon get confused in
his reckoning; and that the men, finding out his error, would lose all
trust and confidence in him, whence would spring want of discipline and
disorders of various kinds; he knew that I much valued this chart and had
apparently taken it into his head that I wished to disencumber myself of
it and to entail the duty of carrying it on him.

He at length proposed to me to allow him to cut the chart up, in which
case he said he would carry on the part he wanted and leave the rest. I
would not however part with so valuable a document, for it contained my
route up to that point, and the public utility of the expedition mainly
depended on the preservation of it. He next requested me to make a copy
of it for him; this I assured him under existing circumstances it was
utterly impossible for me to do with sufficient accuracy to answer the
intended purpose, and I therefore would not attempt it. He then applied
to Mr. Smith, who coincided in my opinion; but ever willing to oblige he
made as accurate a copy as he could, which I in vain represented to Mr.
Walker he would find utterly useless. His unreasonable reluctance however
I could not overcome.

POINT OF RENDEZVOUS FIXED.

The next matter to arrange was what place should be fixed on as the point
of rendezvous to which assistance was to be sent to those who were left
to follow with Mr. Walker. This was soon arranged. Mr. Smith had
previously been with me to a place called Goonmarrarup, on the Moore
River about fifty-five miles to the north of Perth; and it was agreed
that the party should proceed along the coast as they best could until
they made the Moore River, where I would have another party stationed
with provisions to meet them; and in order that they might not pass this
river it was settled that the party who went out to meet them should
separate into two, one of which would remain at this point on the Moore
River, about twelve miles from the sea, whilst the other was to proceed
down to it, leaving, besides their tracks, marks to show where they had
passe