The morning was fair but the sky continued to be cloudy when we commenced our journey. After we had proceeded some miles the cooeys of the natives were heard around us, and we once more expected an attack. We were then in a close scrub and the cattle were advancing slowly, for the ground had been softened by the rain. We halted the carts in a small open space and prepared for defence. The men forming our rear guard, having concealed themselves behind bushes, intercepted three gins and a boy who appeared to be following our movements. When discovered they called out loudly "Wainba! Wainba!" and we concluded from this that the male savages were not far off, and that they employed these women on outpost duty. Our men beckoned to them to go back and, no other natives appearing, we resumed our march. The gins however were not to be driven from their object so easily; and indeed from the barking of our dogs towards the scrub during the night, and by the tracks observed in the sand across our route next morning, it appeared that these poor creatures had passed the night, a cold one too, in the scrub near our camp without fire or water, and that they had preceded us in the morning. NATIVE CONVERSATIONS. In the calm evening of that day and as the sun was setting I distinctly heard the women, at a distance of nearly two miles, relating something respecting us to a party of their tribe beyond the Darling. It may be difficult for those unused to the habits of Australian natives to understand how this could be; but it must be remembered that these people having no fixed domicile, the gins generally form a separate party, but may thus often carry on a conversation from a great distance with their male companions--consequently when a mile apart only these people may be said to be in company with each other. As the gins are always ordered by their lords and masters to meet them at such places of rendezvous as they may think proper, we may account for the well-known accuracy of these natives in the names which belong to every locality in their woods. Nearly the whole day's journey led through a bushy scrub and over ground rather soft and heavy. We reached however our former place of encampment which we again occupied; and we sent our cattle to the river for the night with a party of four armed men. The evening was extremely cold and raw, the wind blowing from south-west, with drizzling rain. Between us and the river the country was open, but the above-mentioned scrub and low hills were close behind us; and through this scrub (as appeared by the foot-marks seen this morning) the gins had passed our camp, and preceded us along our line of route, making towards the river as soon as our track approached an open plain, probably because they could not have continued on the track of the party there, without having been seen by us. July 15.