ther can I forget my feelings of gratitude to
the Almighty when my sunken eyes the next morning once more caught the
first rays of the sun. It seemed as though I could discover in these an
assurance that my hour was not yet come, and that it would be my lot for
some time longer to gaze with grateful pleasure on their splendour.

Several excursions were made during our stay in search of the natives,
but without success. An encampment was found in the neighbourhood, near a
small freshwater swamp, and by the things that were left behind it was
evident that a hasty retreat had been made. It would have been as well if
we could have punished these people in some way for their unprovoked
attack; but to have followed them far into the bush would have been quite
useless. A comparison of their conduct with that of the natives of Shoal
Bay, confirms what I have before stated of the extraordinary contrast
presented by the dispositions of the aboriginal inhabitants of Australia;
for in both instances we were the first Europeans they had ever
encountered.

TREACHERY BAY.

The observations, which nearly cost me my life in endeavouring to obtain,
placed Point Pearce in latitude 14 degrees 25 minutes 50 seconds, South
longitude 2 degrees 49 minutes West of Port Essington. The time of
high-water, at the full and change, was seven o'clock, when the tides
rose from twenty to twenty-six feet. The cliffs forming it are of a
reddish hue, from the quantity of iron the rocks in the neighbourhood
contain. To commemorate the accident which befell me, the bay within
Point Pearce was called Treachery Bay, and a high hill over it Providence
Hill.

In the nights of the 10th and 11th we had sharp squalls from the
eastward, being early in the season for their repeated appearance. There
was the usual gathering of clouds, the hard edges of which were lit up by
the constant flashing of lightning. It is singular that all these
squalls, wherever we have met them, should happen within five hours of
the same time, between nine at night and two in the morning.

COURSE OF THE VICTORIA.

I have thus detailed the circumstances attending the discovery and
partial exploration of the Victoria, that new and important addition to
our geographical knowledge of one of the least known and most interesting
portions of the globe. Its peculiar characteristics--for, like all
Australian rivers, it has distinctive habits and scenery of its own--the
nature of the country