On the 26th of April, 1869, Forrest and his party reached Yarraging, then the farthest station to the eastward. On the first of May, when camped at a native well, visited by Austin in 1854, Forrest says that he could still distinctly see the tracks of that explorer's horses. Past this spot he fell in with natives, who told him that a large party of men and horses died at a place in a northerly direction, and that a gun belonging to the party was still in the possession of the blacks. On closer examination this story turned out to relate to nine of Mr. Austin's horses poisoned during his expedition. Forrest continued his journey to the eastward, and on the 18th came to a large dry salt lake, which he named Lake Barlee. An attempt to cross this lake resulted in getting the horses bogged, and a good deal of hard work had to be gone through before the packs and horses were once more safe on dry land Lake Barlee was afterwards found to be of great size, extending for more than forty miles to the eastward. The native guide Forrest had with him now became rather doubtful as to the exact position of the spot where he professed to have seen the remains, and Forrest, after some searching, came across a large party of the local inhabitants. But they proved anything but friendly, threw dowaks at the blackfellow, and advised the whites to go away before they were killed. As it was getting dark they adopted this advice, and retreated some five miles and camped, Mr. Monger having unfortunately lost his revolver in the scrub. Next morning they managed to get speech with two of the blacks, who restored the revolver, which they had found, and had been warming at the fire. These men stated that the bones were two days' journey to the north, but they were the bones of horses, not of men, and offered to take the whites there, promising to come to the camp the following day, a promise which was riot kept. No other intercourse with the blacks was obtainable, at least none that produced any good results. One old man simply howled piteously all the time they were in his company, and another one, who had two children with him, said most emphatically that he had never heard of any horses having been killed, but that the natives had just killed and eaten his brother. After vainly searching the district for many days, Forrest determined to utilise the remainder of the time at his disposal by examining the country as far to the eastward as his resources would permit. It was evident that the story of the white men's remains had originated from the bones of the horses that died during Austin's trip; and, as no matter how circumstantial might be the narrations of the blacks, they invariably contradicted them the next time they were interrogated, it was evident it would serve little purpose being led by them on a foolish errand from place to place.