Past this spot
he fell in with natives, who told him that a large party of men and
horses died at a place in a northerly direction, and that a gun belonging
to the party was still in the possession of the blacks. On closer
examination this story turned out to relate to nine of Mr. Austin's
horses poisoned during his expedition. Forrest continued his journey to
the eastward, and on the 18th came to a large dry salt lake, which he
named Lake Barlee. An attempt to cross this lake resulted in getting the
horses bogged, and a good deal of hard work had to be gone through before
the packs and horses were once more safe on dry land Lake Barlee was
afterwards found to be of great size, extending for more than forty miles
to the eastward. The native guide Forrest had with him now became rather
doubtful as to the exact position of the spot where he professed to have
seen the remains, and Forrest, after some searching, came across a large
party of the local inhabitants. But they proved anything but friendly,
threw dowaks at the blackfellow, and advised the whites to go away before
they were killed. As it was getting dark they adopted this advice, and
retreated some five miles and camped, Mr.
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