njurious.

But although these adventures were happily not attended with bloodshed,
they harassed the men much; and our camp for near a week was more like
an outpost picquet than any thing else. This, however, terminated all
attempts on the part of the natives. From henceforth none of them
followed us on our route.

BREACH THE DEPOT.

At noon, I stopped about a mile short of the depot to take sights.
After dinner we pulled on, the men looking earnestly out for their
comrades whom they had left there, but none appeared. My little arbour,
in which I had written my letters, was destroyed, and the bank on which
out tents had stood was wholly deserted. We landed, however, and it was
a satisfaction to me to see the homeward track of the drays. The men
were sadly disappointed, and poor Clayton, who had anticipated a
plentiful meal, was completely chop fallen. M'Leay and I comforted them
daily with the hopes of meeting the drays, which I did not think
improbable.

Thus, it will appear, that we regained the place from which we started
in seventy-seven days, during which, we could not have pulled less than
2000 miles. It is not for me, however, to make any comment, either on
the dangers to which we were occasionally exposed, or the toil and
privations we continually experienced in the course of this expedition.
My duty is, simply to give a plain narrative of facts, which I have
done with fidelity, and with as much accuracy as circumstances would
permit. Had we found Robert Harris at the depot, I should have
considered it unnecessary to trespass longer on the patient reader, but
as our return to that post did not relieve us from our difficulties, it
remains for me to carry on the narrative of our proceedings to the time
when we reached the upper branches of the Morumbidgee.

DISAPPOINTED OF SUPPLIES.

The hopes that had buoyed up the spirits of the men, ceased to operate
as soon as they were discovered to have been ill founded. The most
gloomy ideas took possession of their minds, and they fancied that we
had been neglected, and that Harris had remained in Sydney. It was to
no purpose that I explained to them that my instructions did not bind
Harris to come beyond Pondebadgery, and that I was confident he was
then encamped upon that plain.

We had found the intricate navigation of the Morumbidgee infinitely
more distressing than the hard pulling up the open reaches of the
Murray, for we were obliged to haul the boat up bet