This pile they
concluded to be the one erected by Mr. Bass, to mark the end of his
journey. That gentleman attempted some time ago to pass the Mountains,
and to penetrate into the interior, but having got thus far, he gave up
the undertaking as impracticable, reporting, on his return, that it was
impossible to find a passage even for a person on foot. Here, therefore,
the party had the satisfaction of believing that they had penetrated as
far as any European had been before them.
[This, however, proved to be Caley's Cairn.]
_May 21st._--Their progress the next day was nearly four miles. They
encamped in the middle of the day at the head of a well-watered swamp,
about five acres in extent; pursuing, as before, their operations in the
afternoon. In the beginning of the night the dogs ran off and barked
violently. At the same time something was distinctly heard to run
through the brushwood, which they supposed to be one of the horses got
loose; but they had reason to believe afterwards that they had been in
great danger--that the natives had followed their tracks, and advanced
on them in the night, intending to have speared them by the light of
their fire, but that the dogs drove them off.
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