Jackey with him, who, by detecting some crumbs on the ground, discovered
that the damper had been eaten at the place where the clothes were
washed.

So careless were some of the party of the fatal consequences of our
provisions being consumed before we arrived at Cape York, that as soon as
we camped and the horses were unpacked, it was necessary that all the
provisions should be deposited together on a tarpaulin, and that I should
be near them by day and by night, so that I could not leave the camp at
all, unless Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Wall undertook to watch the stores. I was
obliged to watch the food whilst cooking; it was taken out of the boiler
in the presence of myself and two or three others, and placed in the
stores till morning.

It was seldom that I could go to bed before nine or ten o'clock at night,
and I had to be up at four in the morning to see our tea made and
sweetened, and our breakfast served out by daylight. The meals we cut up
in thirteen parts, as nearly equal as possible, and one person touched
each part in succession; whilst another person, with his back turned,
called out the names of the party, the person named taking the part
touched. The scrupulous exactness we were obliged to practise with
respect to our provisions was increased by our misfortune in getting next
to nothing to assist our scanty ration; while the extreme labour to which
we were subjected increased our appetites. Two of the party always went
out at daylight to fetch the horses in, and it was necessary we should
start at early morning on account of the great heat in the middle of the
day. We always endeavoured to make a fair stage by ten o'clock, and then,
if in a convenient place, to halt: sometimes we were obliged to halt at
nine o'clock, but we started again generally about three or four o'clock
P.M., and travelled on till six.

Twelve or fourteen natives made their appearance at the camp this
evening, in the same direction as on the previous day. Each one was armed
with a large bundle of spears, and with boomerangs. Their bodies were
painted with a yellowish earth, which with their warlike gestures, made
them look very ferocious. The grass in the position they had taken up was
very long and very dry, quite up to the edge of the gully; they set it on
fire in three or four places, and the wind blowing from them to us, it
burned very rapidly. Thinking we should be frightened at this display
they followed the fire with their spea