Towards evening the natives were heard advancing along our track, and seven came near the camp but remained on the river margin below, which from our post on the hill we completely overlooked. Piper went to these natives to ascertain if they were our enemies from the lake. He recognised several whom he had seen there, and he invited them to come up the hill; but when I saw them I could not, from their apparently candid discourse, look upon them as enemies. They said that the tribe which we had seen at Benanee did not belong to that part of the country, but had come there to fight us, on hearing of our approach. One of them, who had been seen at the lake, asked Piper several times why I did not attack them when I had so good an opportunity, and he informed us that they were the same tribe which intended to kill another white man (Captain Sturt) in a canoe, at the junction of the rivers lower down. They also informed us, on the inquiry being made, that the old man who then behaved so well to the white men was lately dead, and that he had been much esteemed by his tribe. I desired Piper to express to them how much we white men respected him also. I afterwards handed to these people a fire-stick and, pointing to the flat below, gave them to understand, through Piper, that the tribe at Benanee had behaved so ill and riotously about our camp that I could not allow any natives to sit down beside us at night. CHAPTER 3.5. New and remarkable shrub. Darling tribe again. Their dispersion by the party. Cross a tract intersected by deep lagoons. Huts over tombs. Another division of the Darling tribe. Barren sands and the Eucalyptus dumosa. Plants which grow on the sand and bind it down. Fish caught. Aspect of the country to the northward. Strange natives from beyond the Murray. They decamp during the night. Reach the Darling and surprise a numerous tribe of natives. Piper and his gin explain. Search for the junction with the Murray. Return by night. Followed by the natives. Horses take fright. Break loose and run back. Narrow escape of some men from natives. Failure of their intended attack. Different modes of interment. Reduced appearance of the Darling. Desert character of the country. Rainy morning. Return of the party. Surprise the females of the tribe. Junction of the Darling and Murray. Effect of alternate floods there. NEW AND REMARKABLE SHRUB. May 27.