n climbing to its summit, it appeared to be so well
fitted for a halting-place for the night, that I determined to remain
there. The men made themselves comfortable near the water-holes, and
Mr. Smith and myself crept into a little cave, which occasionally served
as a resting-place for the natives, the remains of whose fires were
scattered about. A wild woodland and rocky scenery was around us; and
when the moon rose and shed her pale light over all, I sat with Mr.
Smith on the edge of the waterfall, gazing by turns into the dim woody
abyss below, and at the red fires and picturesque groups of the men,
than which fancy could scarcely imagine a wilder scene."

It is no uncommon mistake, with persons who ought to know better, to
magnify the toils and hardships endured by the body, while those labours
and anxieties that the mind undergoes are disregarded and forgotten.
Every man engaged in an exploring party in the bush, for instance, has
his severe trials to go through, but their trials are not to be compared
to those of the commander of the party. How often when the rest are
sleeping must he be watchful? How frequently, while others are gay, must
he feel thoughtful! These remarks may easily be applied to the following
description of the coast near Shark's Bay, in the N. W. of the island of
New Holland. There was great beauty in the scenery, both the sky and the
water had that peculiar brilliancy about them to be seen only in fine
weather, and in a very warm climate. To the west lay a boundless extent
of sea, to the eastward was a low shore fringed with trees, not only
down to the water's edge, but forming little green knots of foliage in
the ocean itself; behind these trees were low wooded hills, and in
front of them were numbers of pelicans and water-fowl. There was only
about three feet depth of clear transparent water, through which were
seen many beautiful and large shells, and various strange-looking fish,
at some of which last one or other of Captain Grey's men would sometimes
make an attack, while loud peals of laughter would rise from the rest,
when the pursuer, too anxious to gain his object, would miss his stroke
at the fish, or, stumbling, roll headlong in the water. The fineness of
the day, the novelty of the scenery, and the rapid way they were making,
made the poor fellows forget past dangers, as well as those they had yet
to undergo. But this was more than their commander was able to do.
"My own meditations