With great pain I witnessed and bore my part in this distressing scene, but I at the moment felt that it would be necessary to save my energies for other occasions; suspecting that we were in a great tract of desert country, a large portion of which must still be passed ere we could hope for any alleviation from our sufferings; and I therefore at once commenced carrying into execution the order I had given, by walking on in a south by east direction. In about two miles we had gained the summit of the low range which bounded to the southward the valley where we had so vainly searched for water, and for the next ten miles we travelled over elevated sandy barren plains, thinly wooded with occasional clumps of Banksia trees. DRY TEA-TREE SWAMP. On our left was a lofty and well wooded range, distant only about four miles, and on our right lay extensive plains, the western extremity of which, distant about sixteen miles from us, was by the sea; these plains appeared tolerably fertile, being covered with tea-tree swamps, now apparently dried up. I still was led on by the hope, raised by the height of the range on our left, that we might find water issuing from it towards the coast, and had therefore not searched the plains which lay between us and the sea, indeed I felt fully convinced that the swamps we saw were all perfectly dry and the native coincided in my opinion; about an hour before sunset however we descended towards the plains, and turning due west we reached them in about half an hour, but found all the swamps quite destitute of water. As soon as it became dark I lit my fire and laid down by it, advising the others to pursue the same course and to preserve their energies for the morrow. But such advice was thrown away upon men almost perishing with thirst, and every now and then throughout the night I heard their weak husky voices as they wandered from swamp to swamp in the neighbourhood, digging holes with pointed sticks in a vain search. NATIVE SONGS. Poor Kaiber alone lay crouching by my fire, occasionally feeding it with fresh fuel and chanting to himself these two songs, in his own language: Thither, mother oh, I return again, Thither oh, I return again. The other had been sung by the mother of Miago, a native who had accompanied Captain Wickham in the Beagle from the Swan River, and it had made a great impression on the natives. Whither does that lone ship wander, My young son I shall never see again. Whither does that lone ship wander. EXTREME FEEBLENESS OF THE PARTY.