and Robinson caught a great quantity of fish with hook and line. I
called these Middleton's Pass and Fish Ponds. The country all round
was open, grassy, and fit for stock. The next day we got plenty more
fish; they were a species of perch, the largest one caught weighed, I
dare say, three pounds; they had a great resemblance to Murray cod,
which is a species of perch. I saw from the hill overhanging the water
that the creek trended south-east. Going in that direction we did not,
however, meet it; so turning more easterly, we sighted some pointed
hills, and found the creek went between them, forming another pass,
where there was another water-hole under the rocks. This, no doubt,
had been of large dimensions, but was now gradually getting filled
with sand; there was, however, a considerable quantity of water, and
it was literally alive with fish, insomuch that the water had a
disagreeable and fishy taste. Great numbers of the dead fish were
floating upon the water. Here we met a considerable number of natives,
and although the women would not come close, several of the men did,
and made themselves useful by holding some of the horses' bridles and
getting firewood. Most of them had names given them by their
godfathers at their baptism, that is to say, either by the officers or
men of the Overland Telegraph Construction parties. This was my
thirty-second camp; I called it Rogers's Pass; twenty-two miles was
our day's stage. From here two conspicuous semi-conical hills, or as I
should say, truncated cones, of almost identical appearance, caught my
attention; they bore nearly south 60 degrees east.

(ILLUSTRATION: JUNCTION OF THE PALMER AND FINKE.)

Bidding adieu to our sable friends, who had had breakfast with us and
again made themselves useful, we started for the twins. To the south
of them was a range of some length; of this the twins formed a part. I
called it Seymour's Range, and a conic hill at its western end Mount
Ormerod. We passed the twins in eleven miles, and found some water in
the creek near a peculiar red sandstone hill, Mount Quin; the general
course of the creek was south 70 degrees east. Seymour's Range,
together with Mounts Quin and Ormerod, had a series of watermarks in
horizontal lines along their face, similar to Johnston's Range, seen
when first starting, the two ranges lying east and west of one
another; the latter-named range we were again rapidly approaching. Not
far from Mount Quin I found some