These Two Men Remained With Us Until Dark, But As The Evening Appeared Likely To Be Wet, They Left Us Also, When We Lay Down For The Night.

January 9.

- The morning set in cold, dark and rainy, and as much wet had fallen during the night, we had been thoroughly drenched through, our fire had been extinguished, and it was long before we could get it lit again, and even then we could hardly keep it in; the few bushes among the sand hills were generally small, and being for the most part green as well as wet, it required our utmost efforts to prevent the fire from going out; so far indeed were we from being either cheered or warmed by the few sparks we were able to keep together, that the chill and comfortless aspect of its feeble rays, made us only shiver the more, as the rain fell coldly and heavily upon our already saturated garments. About noon the weather cleared up a little, and after getting up and watering the horses, we collected a large quantity of firewood and made waterproof huts for ourselves. The rain, however, was over, and we no longer required them.

Chapter XIV.

PROCEED TO THE WESTWARD - CLIFFS OF THE GREAT BIGHT - LEVEL NATURE OF THE INTERIOR - FLINTS ABOUND - RETURN TO YEER-KUMBAN-KAUWE - NATIVES COME TO THE CAMP - THEIR GENEROUS CONDUCT - MEET THE OVERSEER - RETURN TO DEPOT - BAD WATER - MOVE BACK TO FOWLER'S BAY - ARRIVAL OF THE GUTTER HERO - JOINED BY THE KING GEORGE'S SOUND NATIVE - INSTRUCTIONS RELATIVE TO THE HERO - DIFFICULTY OF FIXING UPON ANY FUTURE PLAN - BREAK UP THE EXPEDITION AND DIVIDE THE PARTY - MR. SCOTT EMBARKS - FINAL REPORT - THE HERO SAILS - OVERSEER AND NATIVES REMAIN - EXCURSION TO THE NORTH - A NATIVE JOINS US - SUDDEN ILLNESS IN THE PARTY - FINAL PREPARATIONS FOR LEAVING THE DEPOT.

January 10. - WE left Yeer-kumban-kauwe early, and proceeding to the westward, passed through an open level tract of country, of from three to four hundred feet in elevation, and terminating seawards abruptly, in bold and overhanging cliffs, which had been remarked by Captain Flinders, but which upon our nearer approach, presented nothing very remarkable in appearance, being only the sudden termination of a perfectly level country, with its outer face washed, steep and precipitous, by the unceasing lash of the southern ocean. The upper surface of this country, like that of all we had passed through lately, consisted of a calcareous oolitic limestone, below which was a hard concrete substance of sand or of reddish soil, mixed with shells and pebbles; below this again, the principal portion of the cliff consisted of a very hard and coarse grey limestone, and under this a narrow belt of a whitish or cream-coloured substance, lying in horizontal strata; but what this was we could not yet determine, being unable to get down to it any where. The cliffs were frightfully undermined in many places, enormous masses lay dissevered from the main land by deep fissures, and appearing to require but a touch to plunge them headlong into the abyss below.

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