never
ceased. The thunder was much louder than last night's, and a slight
mizzling rain for about an hour fell. The barometer had fallen
considerably for the last two days, so I anticipated a change. The
rain was too slight to be of any use; the temperature of the
atmosphere, however, was quite changed, for by the morning the
thermometer was down to 48 degrees.

The horses were not fit to travel, so we had to remain, with nothing
to do, but consult the little map again, and lay off my position on
it. My farthest point I found to be in latitude 24 degrees 38' and
longitude 130 degrees. For the second time I had reached nearly the
same meridian. I had been repulsed at both points, which were about a
hundred miles apart, in the first instance by dry stony ranges in the
midst of dense scrubs, and in the second by a huge salt lake equally
destitute of fresh water. It appears to me plain enough that a much
more northerly or else more southerly course must be pursued to reach
the western coast, at all events in such a country, it will be only by
time and perseverance that any explorer can penetrate it. I think I
remarked before that we entered this little glen through a pass about
half-a-mile long, between two hills of red sandstone. I named this
Worrill's Pass, after another friend of Mr. Carmichael. The little
glen in which we dug out the tank I could only call Glen Thirsty, for
we never returned to it but ourselves and our horses, were choking for
water. Our supply of rations, although we had eked it out with the
greatest possible economy, was consumed, for we brought only a week's
supply, and we had now been absent ten days from home, and we should
have to fast all to-morrow, until we reached the depot; but as the
horses were unable to carry us, we were forced to remain.

During the day I had a long conversation with Mr. Carmichael upon our
affairs in general, and our stock of provisions in particular; the
conclusion we arrived at was, that having been nearly three months
out, we had not progressed so far in the time as we had expected. We
had found the country so dry that until rains fell, it seemed scarcely
probable that we should be able to penetrate farther to the west, and
if we had to remain in depot for a month or two, it was necessary by
some means to economise our stores, and the only way to do so was to
dispense with the services of Alec Robinson. It would be necessary, of
course, in the first place, to find a