To my surprise Mr.Walker here came up to me and asked if I did not think it would be better to halt for a day or two at places of this kind to allow the men to refresh themselves.

The idea of men halting and wasting their strength and energies in searching for native food whilst they had so fearful a journey before them, and no supplies, appeared to me to be preposterous in the extreme: to obtain a sufficiency of food, even for a native, requires in Australia a great degree of skill and knowledge of the productions of the country; but for a European, utterly unaccustomed to this species of labour and totally unacquainted with the productions of the land, to obtain enough to support life for any period, whilst at the same time he has to search for water, is quite impossible.

Even Kaiber, from his ignorance of the roots, declared that he should starve in this country.

I saw therefore that did I adopt the proposed plan of travelling only a few miles a day, and occasionally halting for a day or two to refresh ourselves upon some thistles and periwinkles, I should infallibly sacrifice the lives of the whole party; and under this impression I declined to accede to the suggestion.

Amongst indolent and worn-out men however it subsequently became an extremely popular notion, and, as future events clearly showed, a fatally erroneous one.