Page:Australia, from Port Macquarie to Moreton Bay.djvu/78

 to Yarra-Hapiimi Billy, now indicated to us a long diagonal ford, nearly half a mile in length, which it was necessary to pass to arrive on the other side of the inlet. Making this black go before as a guide, and following his track, we were just able to cross over without actually swimming, as the water reached our shoulders; and Yarra-Hapinni Billy, a mere boy, had to swim some distance. We carried our guns, ammunition, and provisions, safely across by holding them high above our heads. On emerging from the water, we soon entered a dense brush, in which were pines, palms, and various kinds of myrtle trees, bound together by a sort of climbing cane, which does not grow in the MacLeay river brushes. We disturbed several Wonga-wonga pigeons in threading our way through the brush, one of which I shot.

After walking a few miles over a brushy country, we encountered another party of blacks, among whom were several of those men who had visited the cedar sawyers at the Nambucca, and been engaged in the affray with the whites already alluded to. They however seemed inclined to be very amicably disposed towards us; although there was one man among them, who, if I can give credit to my tentkeeper's and bullock-driver's account, had planned, with some other blacks, an attack on my tents, whilst the rest of my party was engaged in surveying up the Nambucca; but a black woman belonging to a different tribe, having given my two men timely warning, they were enabled to catch up a