the capitain, doctor and helmsmen. Moorhouse wanted to buy provisions, partly for his people and partly for us, as we had so little that he wanted to shorten the supply of the two natives who accompanied us; But I objected to this with the declaration that since we had caused the natives to accompany us against their inclination, we were also obliged to maintain them. My position here was all the more awkward and unpleasant as Moorhouse had paid for my share of the provisions.

Towards evening we watched several native boys practicing their spears; There were four on each side, and the skill they showed in both deflecting and hitting the spears, as well as the agility of their limbs, excited our admiration. The boat crew also serves as proof of the superiority of the Encounter Bay natives over the Adelaide residents.

July 30th, 1839.
This Tuesday morning at last at 11 or 12 o'clock Moorhouse finished his business, and accompanied by two other Englishmen, Messrs. Turner(118) and Worthington(119), and a Wirramu native, we set off. Wauwitpinna, who did not like the journey to Currency Creek because he was afraid of the Parnkameyo, left us quite suddenly, and as a result soon after the Encounter Bay native, too, on the pretext that he was ill. That the latter ( 095 ) left us was very inconvenient to all of us, because no one knew the way, and to me especially, because he could have given me the native names for Currency Creek and other places, which now eluded me, since the native boy, who remained alone with us, had never been in the area. Fortunately, the trail of several oxcarts showed us the way, which we encountered and which led us to the spot. Currency Creek is actually a river which falls from the west into the lower Murray, or into the waterway between Lake Alexandrina and the sea, except that it contains salt water two or three miles upstream.

Towards evening we arrived at the place where Captain Pullen(120) had set up camp, and although we did not meet him himself, we were nevertheless treated very decently, with kangaroo meat and so on. The following day, viz

July 31st, 1839.
we set out to see the surrounding area, particularly the lower Murray and the connection of the river with it; the banks are flat and swampy so that one cannot get close to the water. This circumstance is almost annoying because of the many ducks, swans and other birds that swim boldly along under the shelter of those swamps, as if they were conscious of their safety. About 3 miles east of Pullen's camp we came across a group of some twenty ( 096 ) natives with whom we had little time to communicate. In addition to the usual weaving, baskets or bags and the like, we also found skulls among them, which they used instead of drinking vessels. They were filled with hay to purify the bad water, which they draw from a well about three feet deep next to the salty river. We drank something, but the boy had a disgust for the skull and generally behaved shyly, just like in Wirramu, although the men showed him every sign of friendship, e.g. they took him by