‘Grey’s Travels,’ ii. p. 37. Footnote 342: Ibid., ii. p. 40-44. ----- So great had the disaffection become about short marches, that the Captain resolved to adopt a course to settle the question. About seventy miles only had been marched, and six or seven pounds of flour were all that was left to each person. All were hourly losing strength and energy, and suffering from stiffened limbs. To delay under such circumstances was sure to bring with it wants and trials of the most distressing nature. The Captain, therefore, determined to proceed by forced journeys. “It was evident,” he writes, “that those men who, during our late toils, had shown themselves the most capable of enduring hardships, privations, and the fatigue of long and rapid marches, were those best suited for the service destined for them.” Among the five selected to accompany him were corporals Auger and Coles, whose force of character and disciplinary habits made them fit examples for imitation in so forlorn an extremity. Dr. Walker’s party consisted of five men, and himself as the chief. Mr. Frederick Smith was with the slow walkers. The separation took place on the 10th April.[343] ----- Footnote 343: Ibid., ii. p. 45-52. ----- The Arrowsmith River was gained by Captain Grey and his steady men on the 11th, and a further march of forty-six miles brought them on the 13th to Gairdner’s Range. On the 14th, they reached the Hill River, and after a long journey, halted at a pool, where they each cooked two table-spoonsful of flour in about a pint of thick water into a mess they termed _soup_. This, with a few nuts from the zamia tree, formed their day’s repast. On this scanty fare they trudged along at a smart pace, over an arid and sterile tract of country, groaning from pain and fatigue. The sun, too, was intensely hot, and all grew faint for want of water. Gaining the course of a parched-up stream, it was called the “Smith” River. Many holes like wells were in its bottom, inviting search and promising success; but all were cruelly dry, and the very stones over which the water once had gushed, were blanched or blackened with long exposure to a burning sun. Now their weary days only passed to be succeeded by sleepless and toilsome nights. Almost perishing with thirst, they wandered like wild men even in the dark hours of night, from swamp to swamp, digging holes in a vain search. For two days and two nights they had not tasted a single drop of water or food of any kind; and on the 17th, as they moved slowly on with weak and husky voices, they moistened their mouths by sucking a few drops of dew from the shrubs and reeds. So worn out were they all, that now they could only walk a few hundred yards at a time; but about two o’clock in the afternoon they were so completely exhausted, it was impossible to move them. The sun was then very oppressive, and the groans of the men were painful in the extreme. Some had fruitlessly essayed to