miles no permanent water was found; and days of travelling showed them little but low ranges, and level country of spinifex plains. Spinifex was, indeed, the primary feature of this tract; in the more hilly country the unattractive plant grew nearly to the hill-tops. Excellent water was found at the foot of a range; round it was a limited area of pasturage, hemmed in on every side by the ubiquitous spinifex. Beyond spinifex plains and sand ridges, the explorers named Sweeney Creek (in compliment to the farrier), Frere Ranges (after Sir Bartle Frere), Kennedy Creek (after the police constable), Windich Springs, Carnarvon Range (after a Secretary of State for the Colonies), Mount Salvado, Davis Hill (after Mr. J.S. Davis), and Pierre Spring. The Windich Springs supplied the best permanent water Forrest had ever seen. The pool was twenty chains long, and twelve feet deep, with a flag bed. In keeping with the sullen scene around was the discovery, on 1st June, of the charred skull of a native—the remains, apparently, of a ghoulish feast of the cannibals who inhabited these forsaken regions.
On 2nd June the travellers came to a most desirable camping-place in the desert. Swarms of birds led them to a gully containing an unlimited supply of clear fresh water and magnificent feed. A clump of ti-trees clustered near the spring. This delightful spot was the accustomed haunt of numerous kangaroos and emus, and in the evenings pigeons and other birds covered the water. Fresh food was therefore to be had in abundance. Forrest determined to take full advantage of this refuge, and he rested for some days, naming the place Weld Springs, in compliment to the Governor. He made excursions into neighbouring country, but found nothing of any importance; nothing but the eternal spinifex, a samphire flat, and undulating sand hills. One day a few natives came out of the desert, disappeared again, and were not seen for some time. They made their reappearance in a startling manner on the 13th June. While Alexander Forrest and Windich were out in the eastern country searching for water along a route the explorers wished to take into the interior, and Pierre and Kennedy had gone off to shoot game, John Forrest heard the loud voices of natives. He was perched in a small tree at the time, and, looking towards the ridge of a hill immediately above the camp, observed from forty to sixty natives. Decorated in war paint and armed with spears and shields they ran towards the camp. Forrest descended the tree, called on Pierre and Kennedy to return, and with Sweeney prepared to receive the warlike tribe. When the two huntsmen arrived the natives were within sixty yards of Forrest, where they halted. First one aboriginal advanced as if on a friendly errand, then a second came rushing forward, performed several manoeuvres, made many feints to throw spears, and finally gave a signal to his companions. The whole band shipping their spears rushed, shouting and yelling, towards the explorers, who stood firm and in line. When the natives were within thirty yards distance, at the order of Forrest, the little party fired simultaneously. Some of the blacks appeared to be wounded, and at the report all ran back to the hill-top, where they angrily declaimed and harangued.
Meanwhile Forrest's men reloaded their guns ready for another oncoming, which was not long protracted. The leader did not allow the natives to draw so near on this occasion, for while they were descending the hill he fired his rifle at about 150 yards' distance, and brought one man to the ground. At this the whole tribe withdrew, assisting their wounded companion away. Forrest anxiously awaited another attack, which was not, however, made. That night Alexander Forrest and Windich returned from a journey of over fifty miles E.S.E, without finding a drop of water, and horses and travellers had been thirty hours without a drink. This was the only serious brush John Forrest had with natives in all his extensive explorations. During the next two days the explorers erected a stone hut, and on 16th June John Forrest and his old companion Tommy Windich went eastwards in search of water where they might camp on their subsequent journey. They pushed seventy miles into the desert, and searched along the foot of ranges in vain. While in one camp the night was made hideous in the hollow vastnesses by the dolorous howling and barking of hundreds of wild dogs—fit company in such a situation. The flats at the base of the ranges contained a little feed, and there kangaroos browsed. Water sufficient to last the whole party for a week was discovered in clay holes eleven miles on the homeward track; at the same time threatening clouds formed over the gloomy scene. Forrest hoped for rain, and wrote:—"It is in circumstances such as I am at present placed that we are sure to implore help and assistance from the hand of the Creator; but when we have received all we desire, how often we forget to give Him praise!" A little rain fell that night, but did no good, and Forrest and Windich went back to Weld Springs. From Mount Bartle to Weld Springs the explorers had pursued a north-north-east course; thenceforth they went east, with a slight trending south, but amid innumerable deviations in search of water. The camp was fixed at Weld Springs from 2nd June to the 20th, when they started out again. The excursions along this route enabled them to make some estimate of the coming trials. In comparison with the immense block of wilderness before them their efforts seemed but those of tiny ants; the death-like silence in so vast a theatre had its appalling side. The water previously found was reached on 21st June. John Forrest and Tommy Pierre pushed on to spy out the further route. Water was discovered in a few clay holes on a grassy flat some miles away, from which they went to a hill rising in the east. This was named Mount Moore, after Mr. W.D. Moore, of Fremantle; a range southwards was called Timperley Range, in compliment to Mr. W.H. Timperley, Inspector of Police at Geraldton; a remarkable peak, with a reddish top, was named Mount Hosken, after Mr. M. Hosken, of Geraldton, and a salt lake was designated Lake Augusta. More good water was found in the environs of Lake Augusta, and returning to the party Forrest led them thither in slow stages. Game was occasionally secured, and numbers of natives were observed. Late in June spinifex wastes again confronted the men, difficulties accumulated, and a serious situation was faced. As usual, the leader and Windich bad preceded the main party, and when a long distance out in dreary country their horses became exhausted. For days they struggled on, and the determined explorer was compelled to almost drag the poor animals after him, or laboriously drive them before him. At last he himself became as exhausted as his equine companions. After painful crawling he obtained a little water, and there Forrest determined to await the main body. The rations were finished, and the two had to subsist on wurrungs and opossums which chance and much searching enabled them to capture. Forrest was not even yet disheartened, although the outlook was most unpromising. There was nothing but ugly waste before him; scarcely any water and no feed for seventy miles in the rear. This predicament occurred on 4th July when he was camped about 200
