Such was the account the natives gave of the region into which we were
going. We were of course aware that a great deal was fiction, but I was
fully prepared to find it bad enough. From the opinion I had formed of
the distant interior, and from my knowledge of the country, both to the
eastward and westward of me, I had no hope of finding it good within any
reasonable distance.
Prepared, however, as I was for a bad country, I was not prepared for
such as the natives described.
It was somewhat strange, that as we neared the supposed scene of the
slaughter of the overlanders, we should fail in obtaining intelligence
regarding it; neither were the natives, who must have participated in it,
so high up the river as we now were, afraid of approaching us, as they
undoubtedly would have been if they had been parties to it. I began,
therefore, to suspect that it was one of those reports which the natives
are, unaccountably, so fond of spreading without any apparent object in
view.
As we approached Williorara the course of the river upwards was somewhat
to the westward of north. The country had an improved appearance as we
ascended it, and grass seemed to be more generally distributed over the
flats. We passed several large lagoons, which had already been filled
from the river, and were much pleased with the picturesque scenery round
them.
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