We sat down, a little band of nine, bound upon an adventure of which the issue to any and all of us was very uncertain: yet no forebodings appeared to damp the pleasure of the present moment; and as I anxiously looked round I could not detect the slightest trace of a gloomy thought in any of the cheerful faces that surrounded me.

After dinner we drank the Queen's health, the first time such a toast had been given in these regions; and then, Mr.Walker and myself retiring to talk alone, left the rest to their own amusements.
1838.
PLANTING USEFUL SEEDS.
The interval between that and New Year's Day found and left us full of occupation.

On this latter day I had resolved to do homage to the country by a seasonable gift; and therefore, rising with the earliest dawn, spent the whole day in planting, in various positions, seeds of the most useful fruits and vegetables.

Those we had already planted were doing well, and I hoped that this benefaction might prove one of no small value, perhaps to civilized man, or at least to the natives of the vicinity.
WALK TO MUNSTER WATER.
January 4.
A party of us this day walked to Hanover Bay for the purpose of making some observations on the sandy beach there, after which we went over to Prince Regent's River, near Munster Water.

The country until near the bank of the river at this point was of the same sandy nature as that about the beach: there however it improves; and from the circumstance of my finding a regular haunt of the natives I feel sure that there is plenty of fresh water in the neighbourhood.