Not a word could this chief of the Myalls speak besides his own language;
and his slow and formal approach indicated that it was undoubtedly the
first occasion on which he had seen white men. It was evident at once
that he was not the man to wander to stock-stations; and that, whatever
others of his race might do, he preferred an undisputed sway:

Far from the cheerful haunt of men and herds.

Numbers of the tribe came about us, but they retired at the chief's
bidding. Not one however except those first met with in the Bogan, could
speak any of the jargon by which the natives usually communicate with the
stockmen.

MUIRHEAD AND WHITING SENT TO EXAMINE THE DRY CHANNEL OF THE RIVER.

We could not make them understand that we were in search of one of our
party who was lost; neither could Muirhead and Whiting, who were
returning to follow up Mr. Cunningham's track, prevail on any of these
natives to accompany them.

May 3.

The two men having departed to take up Mr. Cunningham's track, I must
here observe that the footsteps had not been discovered in the Bogan,
either at our last camp or at this, although Whiting and Tom Jones had
been in search of them when they found the man with a handkerchief; it
was therefore most important to ascertain, if possible, where and under
what circumstances the footsteps disappeared. The skill with which these
men had followed the slightest impressions was remarkable; and I fixed my
hopes on the result of their further exertions.

SEARCH EXTENDED TO THE PLAINS OF THE LACHLAN.

I cannot say that I then expected they would find Mr. Cunningham,
conceiving it was more probable that he had left the Bogan and gone
northward towards our stations on the Macquarie, a river distant only a
short day's journey from the Bogan. My anxiety about him was embittered
with regret at the inauspicious delay of our journey which his
disappearance had occasioned; and I was too impatient on both subjects to
be able to remain inactive at the camp. I therefore set out, followed by
two men on horseback, with the intention of reconnoitring the country to
the southward, taking with us provisions for two days. After riding 17
miles, the first eight through thick scrub, we came into a more open and
elevated country where we saw pigeons, as sign that water was not distant
on some side of us. The hills were covered with a quartzose soil,
containing angular fragments. The Callitris pyramidalis and the Sterculia
hete