Page:Diary of ten years.djvu/164

 Warm on the 12th and 13th. Cooler on the 14th. Clouds and a breeze on the morning of the 16th, which ended in rain that night. Cold, with occasional showers, on the 17th; thunder in the evening. The 18th fine again: and I should have mentioned that on Thursday, the Lieutenant Governor (Irvin [sic]), Messrs. Rowe, Morgan, R. Browne, Dale, and some others, set out on an excursion over the hills to York. I had intended to go with them, but business prevented me: they are all mounted; another party speaks of going to the Upper Murray district, as they call that of which Captain Bannister reported so favourably. Drawing logs in the early part of the day; got melon seeds sown, and several beds arranged in the garden. Soon after dinner I received Captain Irvin here; he is greatly delighted with the lands over the hill, and says there is a fine reach of the river, or deep reservoir; opposite his grant. He tells me that the natives that were imprisoned on Carnac Island have completely outwitted their guards; a boat was incautiously suffered to remain at the island before night, when they managed to get into it, and were miles off before their escape was discovered; and as there was no boat for pursuit, they reached the land. Their boat was found at Woodman's Point, with one oar; but no natives have been seen since. This occurrence is extremely provoking, as a knowledge of their language would soon have been acquired by us; and they were rapidly learning to make themselves intelligible. I understand they were very accurate in describing the rivers which lie to the north. Mr. Lyon, who superintended the native prisoners at Carnac, says they describe several rivers to the north; one of them large, and abounding with fish; but they could not be understood in their description of distances. It seems that the land is all parcelled out into districts among themselves, and that they rarely travel far from their own homes. The chief of this district is called "Worragonga": Ya-gan is the son of Worragonga. I write this from recollection; but it is no great matter