highly excited, yet I enjoyed a sleep undisturbed by dreams either of the past, the present, or the future. In reality, nature had been exhausted by hunger, thirst, and continued apprehension. In the morning I rose greatly refreshed, and found the tribe already upon the move, gathering roots and spearing eels, a few only remaining with me hi the encampment. I observed that one man was dispatched on some errand, and as he was leaving, they pointed out to me the way he was going for some particular kind of food, or on a message to another tribe, in which message I was in some way or other interested.
Finding myself now tolerably at home, I evinced a desire to make myself useful, by fetching water, carrying wood, and so forth. I went to the river one day for the purpose of having a bathe, but was not long absent before I was missed and an alarm raised; for they thought I had deserted. Search was made in all directions, and just as I returned the messenger came back who had been sent away, as I supposed, to another tribe, bringing with him a young man; who came, as it appeared, to invite the others to their encampment. The following day therefore, our tribe left the borders of the lagoon, taking me with them, and after a tramp through the bush of a few miles, we arrived and took up our quarters, not with the strangers, but at some distance from them, where we erected our temporary huts, or shelters for the night. I was soon afterwards transferred to the charge of a man and woman of the tribe we had come to visit; the man being brother to
