"I Regret Extremely To Acquaint You, That On The Morning Of The 9th September, One Of The Police Horses (Called

"Grey Paddy") kindly lent to the Expedition by His Excellency the Governor, was found with his leg broken, apparently from

The kick of another horse during the night, and I was obliged to order him to be shot in consequence. With this exception, no serious accident has occurred, and the whole of the party are in the enjoyment of good health and spirits. As the Expedition will still be absent, in all probability, upwards of five months, I have availed myself of a kind offer from Dr. Harvey, to send his boat over to Adelaide, and have sent Mr. Scott to receive any instructions his Excellency the Governor, or the Committee, may wish to give relative to our future proceedings; and immediately Mr. S. returns, I shall hurry up to Streaky Bay with the supplies, and at once move on to the westward, my overseer being now engaged in preparing for our forcing a passage through the scrub, to the north-west of Streaky Bay, as soon as we arrive there with the remainder of the party.

"I have the honour to be, Sir, "Your obedient servant, "EDW. JOHN EYRE."

"The Chairman of the Committee for promoting the Northern Expedition."

From the 9th to the 22nd of October, I was occupied a good deal at the camp, having only one man and a native boy to attend to the tent, the horses and the sheep, so that I was in a great measure confined at home, occasionally only making short excursions to the town to superintend the preparation of a large supply of horse-shoes, or visiting the stations of some of the nearest country settlers. I had lately bought a kangaroo dog, from the captain of an American whaler, and in these rambles had frequent opportunities of trying my new purchase, both after emus and kangaroos, but he was quite useless for hunting either, and did little credit to the honesty of the person who sold him to me, and who had asked and received a high price, in consideration of the animal being, as he assured me, of a better description than ordinary. Of the natives of the district I saw nothing whatever; the death of young Hawson, and the subsequent scouring of the country by police, had driven them away from the occupied parts, and forced them to the fastnesses of the hills, or to the scrubs; I was, however, enabled by the kindness of Mr. Schurman, a German Missionary, stationed at Port Lincoln, to obtain a limited collection of words and phrases in the dialect of the district, and which I hoped might be of some use to me hereafter. Mr. Schurman has since published a copious vocabulary and grammar, of the language in use in this part of Australia.

On the 22nd, upon going into the settlement, I found the Government cutter WATERWITCH at anchor in the harbour, having Mr. Scott on board, and a most abundant supply of stores and provisions, liberally sent us by his Excellency the Governor, who had also most kindly placed the cutter at my disposal, to accompany and co-operate with me along the coast to the westward.

Mr. Scott had managed every thing confided to him most admirably; and I felt very greatly indebted to him for the ready and enterprising manner in which he had volunteered, to undertake a voyage from Port Lincoln to Adelaide in a small open boat, and the successful manner in which he had accomplished it. Among other commissions, I had requested him to bring me another man to accompany the expedition in the place of the one (R. M'Robert) who had driven the dray to Port Lincoln, and with whom I was going to part; as also to bring for me a native, named Wylie, an aborigine, from King George's Sound, whom I had taken with me to Adelaide on my return in May last, but who had been too ill to accompany me at the time the expedition started; the latter he had not been able to accomplish, as the boy was in the country when he reached Adelaide, and there was not time to get him down before the WATERWITCH sailed. The man, however, he had procured, and I was glad to recognize in him an old servant, who had been with me in several of my former expeditions, and who was a most excellent carter and tent servant. His name was Thomas Costelow.

Having received large packets of papers and many letters, both from relations in England, and from many warm-hearted friends in Adelaide, I returned with Mr. Scott and Costelow to the tent, to make immediate preparations for our departure. The delay, occasioned by my having been obliged to send to Adelaide for our supplies, had so greatly protracted the period of my absence from the rest of my party, beyond what I had anticipated, that I became most anxious to rejoin them: the summer weather too, was rapidly approaching, and I dreaded the task of forcing a way through the low level scrubby waste, around Streaky and Smoky Bays, under a tropical sun.

From the despatches received, I was glad to find that the Governor and the Colonists had approved of the step I had taken, in moving to the westward, which was gratifying and satisfactory, notwithstanding the disappointments I had experienced. In the course of the day, I sent in a dray to Port Lincoln, with our heavy baggage to put on board the cutter, with orders to Mr. Germain the master, to sail immediately for Streaky Bay, and lose no time in communicating with the party there. Before the cutter sailed, I purchased an excellent little boat to be sent with her for use in our coast or inland explorations, should it be found necessary.

October 23. - The blacksmith not having finished all the shoes, I was compelled to remain another day in camp; the man too, who had been left in charge of the sheep had lost them all; whilst the one, therefore, was finishing his work and the other looking for his sheep, I employed myself in writing letters for Adelaide, and in arranging my business in Port Lincoln, etc.

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