eading over the plain, must escape to the
westward, as the grass has been bent in that direction by the current
last year, but there has been so little rain this season that the channel
of the creek has not been filled.

20th February.

As it appeared that the waters of the creek trended to the west in the
wet season, at 6.5 a.m. we steered north 250 degrees east, through a
level forest of box-trees, with abundance of good grass; the soil brown
loam with fragments of limestone; the shower last night had left many
shallow pools of water on the surface. At 8.40 a.m. passed a small swampy
salt flat covered with salicornia; at 9.10 came on the grassy plain which
we skirted on a west course, but as it turned to the north-west, again
changed the course to 320 degrees; the plain was now reduced to about a
mile in width, and we therefore crossed it in search of a definite
channel, but without success, though there were some slight indications
that during inundation the water flowed to the north-west. At 11.50 we
camped at a shallow puddle of rainwater, on the north side of the plain.
From the camp, till 8.0 a.m., the grass, though very backward, showed
that there had been sufficient rain to cause it to spring; but as we
proceeded it was perfectly dry and parched up, as at the end of the dry
season, showing that little or no rain had fallen for many months in this
part of the country. The day was cloudy, with thunder, and was followed
by a heavy shower at night, which prevented my ascertaining the latitude
by observation.

ENTER WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

21st February.

As we were now three days' journey from the last water which could be
depended on for more than a few days, and the channel of the creek had
been so completely lost on the plain that it was uncertain whether the
marks of inundations near this camp had been caused by the creek flowing
to the west, or by some tributary flowing to the east, I determined to
attempt a south-west course, in the hope that, should the country prove
rocky, the heavy showers might have collected a sufficient quantity of
water to enable us to continue a southerly route, and accordingly
selected the most prominent point of the rising ground to the south of
our position, and at 6.5 a.m. started north 235 degrees east. After
leaving the open plains we entered a grassy box forest, which continued
to the foot of the hills, which we reached at 8.0. The slope of the hills
proved very scrubby, with