Australia twice traversed ... Being a narrative compiled from the Journals of five exploring expeditions ... from 1872 to 1876 ... With maps and illustrations

Front matter

■ ■ I ■ ■ ■ > AUSTRALIA TWICE TRAVERSED: (Ls?e Romance of (Exploration^ BEING A NARRATIVE COMPILED FROM THE JOURNALS OF FIVE EXPLORING EXPEDITIONS INTO AND THROUGH Central South Australia, and Western Australia, From 1872 to 1876. BY ERNEST GILES, Fellow, and Gold Medallist, of the Royal Geographical Society of London. GO FORTH, MY BOOK, AND SHOW THE THINGS, PILGRIMAGE UNTO THE PILGRIM BRINGS. Banyan IN TWO VOLUMES.— VOL. II. WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. LONDON: SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE & RIVINGTON LIMITED, Si. Jhmstan's liottsc, Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, E.C. 1889. [All rights reserved-] LONDON : PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. IN QUEEN VICTORIA'S DESERT. [Page 196. Vol. CONTENTS OF VOL. II.

BOOK I I. — continued

CHAPTER IX. FROM

I2TH MARCH TO I9TH APRIL, 1874. The Rebecca — The Petermann Range — Extraordinary place — The Docker — Livingstone's Pass — A park — Wall-like hills — The Ruined Rampart — Pink, green, and blue water — Park-like scenery — The Hull — A high cone — Sugar-loaf Peak — Pretty hills and grassy valleys — Name several features — A wild Parthenius — Surprise a tribe of natives — An attack— Mount Olga in view — Overtaken by the enemy — Appearance of Mount Olga — Breakfast interrupted — Escape by flight — The depot — Small circles of stone — Springs — Mark a tree — Slaughter Terrible Billy — A smoke signal — Trouble in collecting the horses — A friendly conference — Leave Sladen Water — Fort McKellar — Revisit the Circus — The west end of the range — Name two springs . . . 1-26

CHAPTER X. FROM

20TH APRIL TO 2IST MAY, 1874. Gibson and I depart for the west — His brother with Franklin — Desert oaks — Smoked horse — Ants innumerable* — Turn two horses back — Kegs in a tree — No views — Instinct of horses — Sight a distant range — Gibson's horse dies — Give him the remaining one — The last ever seen of him — Alone in the desert — Carry a keg — Unconscious — Where is the relief party — A dying wallaby — Footfalls of a galloping horse — Reach the depot — Exhausted — Search for the lost — Gibson's Desert* — Another smoke-house — Jimmy attacked at Fort McKellar — Another equine victim — Final retreat decided upon — Marks of floods — Peculiarity of the climate — Remarks on the region — Three natives visit us . . 27-54 CONTENTS. VI

CHAPTER XL FROM

2IST MAY TO 2QTH JULY, 1874. Depart for civilisation— The springs at the pass— Farewell to Sladen Water— The Schwerin Mural Crescent— The return route- Recross the boundary line — Natives and their smokes — A canine telegram — New features— The Sugar-loaf— Mount Olga once more — Ayers's Rock— Cold weather — A flat-topped hill — Abandon a horse — A desert region — A strange feature— Lake Amadeus again— A new smoke-house — Another smoked horse— The glue-pot — An invention — Friendly natives — A fair and fertile tract — The Finke — A white man — A sumptuous repast — Sale of horses and gear — The Charlotte — The Peake — In the mail — Hear of Dick's death — In Adelaide — Concluding remarks . SS~72

Book III. Chapter

I. FROM I3TH MARCH TO 1ST APRIL, 1875. Leave Fowler's Bay — Camels and horses — A great plain — A black romance — An oasis — Youldeh — Old Jimmy — Cockata blacks — In concealment — Flies, ants, and heat — -A line of waters to the east — Leave depot — The camels — Slow progress — Lose a horse loaded with water — Tinkle of a bell — Chimpering — Heavy sand-dunes — Astray in the wilds — Pylebung — A native dam — Inhuman mutilations — Mowling and Whitegin — The scrubs — Wynbring — A conspicuous mountain — A native family — March flies 75-105

Chapter II. From

2ND APRIL TO 6TH MAY, 1875. Leave Wynbring — -The horses — Mountains of sand — Mount Finke — One horse succumbs — Torchlight tracking — Trouble with the camels — A low mount — Dry salt lagoons — 200 miles yet from water — Hope — Death of Chester — The last horse — A steede, a steede — Ships of the desert — Reflections at night — Death or water — The Hermit Hill — Black shepherds and shepherdesses — The Finniss Springs — Victims to the bush — Footprints on the sands of time — Alec Ross — Reach Beltana. . . 106-127 CONTENTS. VII

Book IV. Chapter

I. FROM 6TH MAY TO 27TH JULY, 1 875. Fourth expedition — ■ The members — Departure — Squabbles — Port Augusta — -Coogee Mahomet — Mr. Roberts and Tommy — Westward ho ! — The equipment — Dinner and a sheep — The country — A cattle ranch — Stony plateau— The Elizabeth — Mr. Moseley — Salt lakes — Coondambo — Curdling tea — An indented hill — A black boy's argument — -Pale-green-foliaged tree — A lost officer — ■ Camels poisoned — Mount Finke in the winter — Wynbring — A new route — A good Mussulman — Depart from Wynbring — New places — Antediluvian cisterns — Still westwards — Lake Bring — Rain and a bath — A line cut in the scrubs — High sandhills — Return to Youldeh — Waking dreams — In depot — Fowler's Bay once more — The officers explore to the north — Jimmy and Tommy — Jimmy's bereavement — At the bay — Richard Dorey — Return to Youldeh — Tommy's father — The officer's report — Northwards — Remarks ...... 131-160

CHAPTER II. FROM

27TH JULY TO 6TH OCTOBER, 1875. Ooldabinna depot — Tietkens and Young go north — I go west — A salt expanse — Dense scrubs — Deposit two casks of water — Silence and solitude — Native footmarks — A hollow — Fine vegetation — • A native dam — Anxiety — A great plain — A dry march — Return to the depot — Rain — My officers' report — Depart for the west — Method of travelling — Kill a camel — Reach the dam — Death or victory — Leave the dam — The hazard of the die — Five days of scrubs — Enter a plain — A terrible journey — Saleh prays for a rock-hole — A dry basin at 242 miles — Watering camels in the desert — Seventeen days without water — Saved — Tommy finds a supply — The Great Victoria Desert — The Queen's Spring — Farther still west ....... 161-208

Chapter III. From

6TH TO l8TH OCTOBER, 1875. Depart for Mount Churchman — Yellow-barked trees — Wallaby traps — Sight a low hill — Several salt lakes — Another hill — Camels bogged — Natives' smoke — Bare rocks — Grass-trees — Clayey and grassy ground — Dryness of the region — Another mass of bare rocks — A pretty place — Crows and native foot-tracks — Tommy finds a well — Then another — Alone on the rocks — Voices of the angels — -Women coming for water — First natives seen — Arrival of CONTENTS. VIII the party— Camels very thirsty but soon watered — Two hundred miles of desert— Natives come to the camp — Splendid herbage — A romantic spot — More natives arrive — Native ornaments — A mouthpiece— Cold night — Thermometer 320 — Animals' tracks — Natives arrive for breakfast — Inspection of native encampment — Old implements of white men in the camp — A lame camel — Ularring — A little girl — Dislikes a looking-glass — A quiet and peaceful camp — A delightful oasis — Death and danger lurking near — Scouts and spies — A furious attack — Personal foe—Dis persion of the enemy — A child's warning — Keep a watch — Silence at night — Howls and screams in the morning — The Temple of Nature — Reflections — Natives seen no more . . 209-228

Chapter IV. From

I8TH OCTOBER TO 18TH NOVEMBER, 1875. Depart from Ularring — Re-enter scrubs — Scrubs more dense — A known point — Magnetic rocks — Lowans' eggs — Numbers of the birds — Crows, hawks — Natives and water — Induce natives to decamp — Unusually vigorous growth of scrubs — Alec sights Mount Churchman — Bronze-winged pigeons — Pigeon Rocks — Depart — Forcing a passage through the scrubs — Edge of a cliff — Mount Churchman in view — Some natives arrive — A wandering pet — Lake Moore — Rock-holes — Strike old dray tracks — An outlying sheep-station — The first white man seen — Dinner of mutton — Exploring at an end — Civilisation once more — Tootra — All sorts and conditions come to interview us — A monastery — A feu de joie — The first telegraph station — Congratulatory messages — Intimations of receptions — A triumphal march — Messrs. Clunes Brothers — An address — Culham — White ladies — Newcastle — A triumphal arch — A fine tonic — Tommy's speech — Unscientific profanity — Guildford on the Swan — Arrival at Perth — Reception by the Mayor — The city decorated — Arrival at the Town Hall — A shower of garlands — A beautiful address — A public reception at Fremantle — Return to Perth — And festivities — Remarks 229-248

Book V. Chapter

I. FROM 18TH NOVEMBER, 1875, TO IOTH APRIL, 1876. Remarks on the last expedition — Departure of my two officers — Expedition leaves Perth — Invited to York — Curiosity to see the caravan — Saleh and Tommy's yarns — Tipperary — Northam — Newcastle again— A pair of watch(ful) guards — St. Joseph's — Messrs. Clunes — The Benedictine monastery — Amusing incident CONTENTS. IX — A new road — Berkshire Valley — Triumphal arch — Sandal-wood — Sheep poison — Cornamah — A survey party — Irwin House — Dongarra — An address presented — A French gentleman — Greenough Flats — Another address — Tommy's tricks — Champion Bay — Palmer's camp — A bull-camel poisoned — The Bowes — Yuin — A native desperado captured — His escape — Cheangwa — Native girls and boys — Depart for the interior — Natives follow us — Cooerminga — The Sandford — Moodilah — Barloweerie Peak — Pia Spring — -Mount Murchison — Good pastoral country — Farewell to the last white man . ..... 251-268

CHAPTER II. FROM IOTH APRIL TO

7TH MAY, 1 876. The natives continue with us — Natta water-hole — Myriads of flies — Alec returns to Cheangwa — Bashful Tommy — Cowra man — Native customs and rites — Red granite mounds — Loads carried by women — Laura and Tommy — " Cowra " remains — Pretty amphitheatre — Mount Hale Range — Flooded grassy flat — Clianthus or desert pea — Natives show us water — New acquaintances — Tell-tale fat — Timber of the Murchison — A water-hole — Fine vegetation — Mount Gould and Mount Hale — A new tribe of natives — Melbourne — Pretty girls brought to the camp — A picturesque place — Plague of flies — Angels' faces — Peterman — Ascend Mount Gould — A high peak — Country beautifully green — Natives less friendly — Leave Mount Gould — Saleh's ponds — Mount Labouchere — Sandal-wood-trees — Native well in a thicket — * An Australian scene — The Valley of the Gascoyne — Beautiful trees — A fire-brand — Stony pass — Native orange — A second anniversary — Ascent of the peak — Severe country for camels' feet — Grassy plain — The Lyon's river — Native fires — Another anniversary — A new watercourse — A turkey bustard — An extraordinary scene — Remarks upon the country . . 269-291

CHAPTER III. FROM

7TH MAY TO IOTH JUNE, 1876. Depart for higher ground — Rain falls — Ophthalmia — Romantic glen — Glen Ross — Camels on the down grade — Larger creek — The Ashburton — No natives — Excellent bushes for camels — A strange spot — Junction of several creeks — Large snake — Grand Junction Depot — A northerly journey — Milk thistle — Confined glen — Pool of water — Blind with ophthalmia — Leading the blind — Dome-like masses — Mount Robinson and The Governor — Ophthalmia Range — Rocky Spring — Native fig-trees — A glen full of water — Camels nearly drowned — Scarcity of living things — And of water — Continued plague of flies — A pretty view — Tributaries join — VOL. II. b CONTENTS. X Nicholls's Fish Ponds — Characteristics of watering places — Red hill — Another spring — Unvarying scene — Frost, thermometer 280 — A bluff hill — Gibson's Desert again — Remarks upon the Ash burton — The desert's edge — Barren and wretched region — Low ridges and spinifex — Deep native well — Thermometer 180 — Salt bush and acacia flats — A rocky cleft — Sandhills in sight — Enter the desert — The solitary caravan — Severe ridges of sand — Camels poisoned in the night — In doubt, and resolved — Water by digging — More camels attacked — A horrible and poisonous region — Variable weather — Thick ice — A deadly Upas-tree . 292-313

CHAPTER IV. FROM IITH JUNE TO

23RD AUGUST, 1 87 6. Farther into the desert — Sandhills crowned with stones — Natives' smokes and footprints seen — Weakened camels — Native well — Ten days' waterless march* — Buzoe's grave — A region of desolation — Eagles — Birds round the well — Natives hovering near — Their different smokes — Wallaby — Sad Solitude's triumphant reign — The Alfred and Marie Range once more — The Rawlinson Range and Mount Destruction — Australia twice traversed — Fort McKellar — Tyndall's Springs — A last search after Gibson — Tommy's Flat — The Circus — The Eagle — Return to Sladen Water — The Petermann tribes — Marvellous Mount Olga — Glen Watson — Natives of the Musgrave Range — A robbery — Cattle camps — The missing link — South for the Everard Range — Everard natives — Show us a watering-place — Alec and Tommy find water — More natives — Compelled to give up their plunder — Natives assist at dinner — Like banyan-trees — A bad camping-place — Natives accompany us — Find the native well — The Everard revisited — Gruel thick and slab — Well in the Ferdinand — Rock-hole water — Natives numerous and objectionable — Mischief brewing — A hunt for spears — Attack frustrated — Taking an observation — A midnight foe — The next morning — Funeral march — A new well — Change of country — Approaching the telegraph line — The Alberga — Decrepit native women — The Neales — Mount O'Hallaran — The telegraph line — Dry state of the country — Hann's Creek — Arrival at the Peake . . . 314-338

Chapter V. From

23RD AUGUST TO 20TH SEPTEMBER, 1S76. Depart for the south — Arrive at Beltana — Camels returned to their depot — The Blinman Mine — A dinner — Coach journey to the Burra-Burra Mines — A banquet and address — Rail to Adelaide Address at Gawler — Reception at the Town Hall — A last address — Party disbanded — Remarks — The end . . . 339-342 ILLUSTRATIONS TO VOL. II. PAGE View on the Petermann Range 3 Attack at the Farthest East .... to face 9 Mount Olga „ 11 Circus Water 28 First View of the Alfred and Marie Range . to face 35 The last ever seen of Gibson 36 Alone in the Desert 39 Jimmy at Fort McKellar to face 51 The Hermit Hill and Finniss Spring . . . -124 Wynbring Rock. 146 Little Salt Lake 166 In Queen Victoria's Desert to face 196 Queen Victoria's Spring ,,202 Attack at Ularring „ 223 Forcing a Passage through the Scrubs in Western Australia 231 First View of Mount Churchman 235 The First White Man met in Western Australia to face 238 Arrival at Culham (Samuel Phillips's) . . „ 241 Arrival at Perth 244 Arrival at the Town Hall, Perth . . to face 245 Farewell to Western Australia 267 Glen Ross 294 Glen Ferdinand *. 326 Maps. Third Expedition, 1875 ...... to face 75 Fourth Expedition, 1875 „ 131 Fifth Expedition, 1876 ,,25: Australia Twice Traversed.

BOOK II

. — continued.

CHAPTER IX. FROM

I2TH MARCH TO 1 9TH APRIL, 1 874. The Rebecca — The Petermann range — Extraordinary place — The Docker — Livingstone's Pass — A park — Wall-like hills — The Ruined Rampart — Pink, green, and blue water — Park-like scenery — The Hull — A high cone — Sugar-loaf Peak — Pretty hills and grassy valleys — Name several features — A wild Parthenius — Surprise a tribe of natives — An attack — Mount Olga in view — Overtaken by the enemy — Appearance of Mount Olga — Breakfast interrupted — Escape by flight — The depot — Small circles of stone — Springs — Mark a tree — Slaughter Terrible Billy — A smoke signal — Trouble in collecting the horses — A friendly conference — Leave Sladen Water — Fort McKellar — Revisit the Circus — The west end of the range — Name two springs. The country towards the other ranges eastwards appeared poor and scrubby.

We went first to a hill a good deal south of east, and crossed the dry bed of a broad, sandy, and stony creek running north. I called it the Rebecca. From it we went to a low saddle between two hills, all the while having* a continuous range to the north ; this was the extension beyond the pinnacle of the wall-like vol. 11. B AUSTRALLA TWLCE TRAVERSED. 2 crescent. A conspicuous mount in this northern line I called Mount Sargood.* From this saddle we saw a range of hills which ran up from the south west, and, extending now eastwards, formed a valley nearly in front of us. I called this new feature the Petermann Range. In it, a peculiar notch existed, to which we went. This new range was exceedingly wall-like and very steep, having a serrated ridge all along ; I found the notch to be only a rough gully, and not a pass.

We continued along the range, and at four miles farther we came to a pass where two high hills stood apart, and allowed an extremely large creek — that is to say, an extremely wide one — whose trend was northerly, to come through. Climbing one of the hills, I saw that the creek came from the south-west, and was here joined by another from the south-east. There was an ex ceedingly fine and pretty piece of park -like scenery, enclosed almost entirely by hills, the Petermann Range forming a kind of huge outside wall, which enclosed a mass of lower hills to the south, from which these two creeks find their sources. This was a very extraordinary place ; I searched in vain in the pass for water, and could not help wonderino where such a watercourse could go to. The creek I called the Docker.* The pass and park just within it I called Livingstone Pass and Learmouth* Park, just outside the pass, northerly, was a hio-h hill I called Mount Skene.* Finding no water in the pass, we went to the more easterly of the two creeks ; it was very small compared with the Docker.

It was now dusk, and we had to camp without, water. The day was hot. This range is most singular in construction ; it rises on either side almost perpendicularly, and does not THE RULNED RAMPART. 3 appear to have very much water about it ; the hills indeed seem to be mere walls, like the photographs of some of the circular ranges of mountains in the VIEW ON THE rETEKMANN RANGE. moon. There was very fine grass, and our horses stayed well. We had thunder and lightning, and the air became a little cooled. The creek we were on appeared to rise in some low hills to the south ; though it meandered about so much, it was only by travelling, we found that it came from a peculiar ridge, upon whose top was a fanciful-looking, broken wall or rampart, with a little pinnacle on one side. When nearly abreast, south, of this pinnacle, we found some water in the creek-bed, which was now very stony.

The water was impregnated with ammonia from the excreta of emus, dogs, birds, beasts, and fishes, but the horses drank it with avidity. Above this we got some sweet water in rocks and sand. I called the queer-looking wall the Ruined Rampart. There was a quantity of B AUSTRALLA TWICE TRAVERSED. 4 different kinds of water, some tasting of ammonia, some saltish, and some putrid. A few ducks flew up from these strange ponds. There was an over hanging ledge and cave, which gave us a good shade while we remained here, the morning being very hot. I called these MacBain's* Springs. Following the creek, we found in a few miles that it took its rise in a mass of broken table-lands to the south. We still had the high walls of the Petermann to the north, and very close to us. In five miles we left this water-shed, and descended the rough bed of another creek running eastwards ; it also had some very queer water in it — there were pink, green, and blue holes.

Ducks were also here ; but as we had no gun, we could not get any. Some sweet water was procured by scratching in the sand. This creek traversed a fine piece of open grassy country — a very park-like piece of scenery ; the creek joined another, which we reached in two or three miles. The new creek was of enormous width ; it came from the low hills to the south and ran north, where the Petermann parted to admit of its passage. The natives were burning the country through the pass. Where on earth can it go ? No doubt water exists in plenty at its head, and very likely where the natives are also ; but there was none where we struck it. I called this the Hull.* The main range now ran on in more disconnected portions than formerly ; their general direction was 2 50 south of east. We still had a mass of low hills to the south.

We continued to travel under the lea of the main walls, and had to encamp without water, having travelled twenty-five miles from the Ruined Rampart. A high cone in the range I called Mount Curdie.* The next morning I as- ON THE PETERMANN RANGE. 5 cended the eastern end of Mount Curdie. A long way off, over the tops of other hills, I could see a peak bearing 270 south of east; this I supposed was, as it ought to be, the Sugar-loaf Hill, south-westward from Mount Olga, and mentioned previously. To the north there was a long wall-like line stretching across the horizon, ending about north-east ; this appeared to be a disconnected range, apparently of the same kind as this, and having gaps or passes to allow watercourses to run through ; I called it Blood's Range. I could trace the Hull for many miles, winding away a trifle west of north.

It is evident that there must exist some gigantic basin into which the Rebecca, the Docker, and the Hull, and very likely several more further east, must flow. I feel morally sure that the Lake Amadeus of my former journey must be the receptacle into which these creeks descend, and if there are creeks running into the lake from the south, may there not also be others running in, from the north and west ? The line of the southern hills, connected with the Petermann wall, runs across the bearing of the Sugar-loaf, so that I shall have to pass over or through them to reach it. The outer walls still run on in disconnected groups, in nearly the same direction as the southern hills, forming a kind of back wall all the way. Starting away from our dry encampment, in seven miles we came to where the first hills of the southern mass approached our line of march.

They were mostly disconnected, having small grassy valleys dying between them, and they were fes tooned with pines, and some pretty shrubs, presenting also many huge bare rocks, and being AUSTRALIA TWICE TRAVERSED. very similar country to that described at Ayres's Range, through which I passed in August. Here, however, the rocks were not so rounded and did not present so great a resemblance to turtles. At two miles we reached a small creek with gum timber, and obtained water by digging. The fluid was rather brackish, but our horses were very glad of it, and we gave them a couple of hours' rest. I called this Louisa's Creek. A hill nearly east of Mount Curdie I called Mount Fagan ; another still eastward of that I called Mount Miller. At five miles from Louisa's Creek we struck another and much larger one, running to the north ; and upon our right hand, close to the spot at which we struck it, was a rocky gorge, through and over which the waters must tumble with a deafening roar in times of flood.

Just now the water was not running, but a quantity was lodged among the sand under the huge boulders that fill up the channel. I called this the Chirnside.* A hill in the main range east ward of Mount Miller I called Mount Bowley. At ten miles from Louisa's Creek we camped at another and larger watercourse than the Chirnside, which I called the Shaw.* All these watercourses ran up north, the small joining the larger ones — some independently, but all going to the north. Crossing two more creeks, we were now in the midst of a broken, pine-clad, hilly country, very well grassed and very pretty ; the hills just named were on the north, and low hills on the south. Ever since we entered the Livingstone Pass, we have traversed country which is remarkably free from the odious triodia. Travelling along in the cool of the next morning through this " wild Parthenius, tossing SURPRISE A TRIBE OF NATIVES. 7 in waves of pine," we came at six miles along our course towards the Sugar-loaf, to a place where we surprised some natives hunting.

Their wonderfully acute perceptions of sight, sound, and scent almost instantly apprised them of our presence, and as is usual with these persons, the most frantic yells rent the air. Signal fires were immediately lighted in all directions, in order to collect the scattered tribe, and before we had gone a mile we were pursued by a multitude of howling demons. A great number came running after us, making the most unearthly noises, screeching, rattling their spears and other weapons, with the evident intention of not letting us depart out of their coasts. They drew around so closely and so thick, that they prevented our horses from going on, and we were compelled to get out our revolvers for immediate use ; we had no rifles with us. A number from behind threw a lot of spears ; we were obliged to let the pack-horse go — one spear struck him and made him rush and jump about.

This drew their attention from us for a moment ; then, just as another flight of spears was let fly at us, we plunged forward on our horses, and fired our revolvers. I was horrified to find that mine would not go off, something was wrong with the cartridges, and, though I snapped it four times, not a single discharge took place. Fortunately Mr. Tietkens's went off all right, and what with that, and the pack-horse rushing wildly about, trying to get up to us, we drove the wretches off, for a time at least. They seemed far more alarmed at the horses than at us, of whom they did not seem to have any fear whatever. We induced them to retire for a bit, AUSTRALLA TWICE TRAVERSED. 8 and we went on, after catching the pack-horse and breaking about forty of their spears. I believe a wild Australian native would almost as soon be killed as have his spears destroyed.

The country was now much rougher, the little grassy valleys having ceased, and we had to take to the hills. While travelling along here we saw, having pre viously heard its rustle, one of those very large iguanas which"' exist in this part of the country. We had heard tales of their size and ferocity from the natives near the Peake (Telegraph Station) ; I believe they call them Parenties. The specimen we saw to-day was nearly black, and from head to tail over five feet long. I should very much have liked to catch him; he would make two or three good meals for both of us. Occasionally we got a glimpse of the Sugar-loaf. At nine miles from where we had encountered the enemy, we came to a bold, bare, rounded hill, and on ascending it, we saw immediately below us, that this hilly country ceased immediately to the east, but that it ran on south-easterly.

Two or three small creeks were visible below, then a thick scrubby region set in, bounded exactly to the east by Mount Olga itself, which was sixty miles away. There was a large area of bare rock all about this hill, and in a crevice we got a little water and turned our horses out. While we were eating our dinner, Mr. Tietkens gave the alarm that the enemy was upon us again, and instantly we heard their discordant cries. The horses began to gallop off in hobbles. These wretches now seemed determined to destroy us, for, having considerably augmented their numbers, they swarmed around us on all sides. ATTACK AT THE FARTHEST EAST. [Page Q, Vol. HOSTILLTY OF THE NA TLVES. 9 Two of our new assailants were of commanding stature, each being nearly tall enough to make two of Tietkens if not of me.